One of the most annoying things about critical biblical scholarship is the way that every discussion has to contribute to questions of composition, authorship, historical setting, etc. Harrington gives a very intriguing paper on holiness in Ezra-Nehemiah, but the whole thing is part of a “larger” argument about the common authorship of the two books.

Without a church to serve with edifying theological interpretation, scholars serve the pseudo-church of biblical scholarship.