For R. G. Collingwood, a scholar's final humiliation comes when his juniors conspire to present him with a volume of essays as a sign that they now consider him senile! In this case, however, we have gathered a collection of essays to celebrate the 65th birthday of a scholar who is by no means retired and is at the height of her powers. Morna Hooker's renown for her probing questions and sharpness of mind continues to grow with each new publication, and this collection is designed both to celebrate her achievements and to express our hope for more to come.

Of the many topics illuminated by Morna's work, we elected to focus on a controversial theme where she has rightly insisted on clarity of mind and breadth of focus. The relationship between early Christianity and its parent Judaism has a depth and complexity which is peculiarly difficult to grasp. We have taken our theme and our inspiration from Morna's Ethel M. Wood Lecture, New Wine In Old Bottles (1984) and her subsequent Sanderson Lectures Continuity and Discontinuity (1986), where, as a consummate communicator, she has opened up the key issues of our subject in a widely accessible way.

This is not, like the average Festschrift, a loose collection of essays on a common theme. Rather, we have planned and assigned essays to our contributors in an attempt to cover at least the major topics in this field.