Dr. Richard Reece writes: We see inflation everywhere, but because it is a particularly present problem we tend to ignore its effects in published commentaries. This means that early translations of the Gospels have an unfortunate effect on our picture of the time of Jesus. In the earliest translations it was reasonable, if a little 'antiquarian', to equate the Roman denarius often mentioned in the Gospels with the silver penny. But that has stuck so that the sermon or homily can seriously suggest that the value of the coin remains 1p. Brave commentators realise that things need to be brought up to date ...