Antihistorical Approach

For much too long a time the course of New Testament scholarship has been dictated by theological, quasi-theological, and philosophical presuppositions. In far too many cases commentaries on NT books have neglected such basic requirements as up-to-date historical and philological analysis of the text itself. The result has often been steadfast refusal to take seriously the findings of archaeological and linguistic research. So anti-historical is this approach that it fascinates the speculative minds which prefer clichés to factual data, and shifting ideology to empirical research and logical demonstration.

W. F. Albright, in the preface of the Anchor Bible series, Matthew