This is more the domain of Signposts but for some bizarre reason it caught my interest.

Professor Bradley Mclean of biblical studies at Knox College, University of Toronto has been musing on why Theology and Classical Biblical Studies are suffering intellectually and he proposes that the problem arises because academics

use the same basic paradigm handed down to us by 19th-century historicism and romanticism without questioning this approach. We forget that the conditions, social biases and political pressure of the times that these intellectuals lived in colour the way they looked at classical and religious knowledge

further he says

The reason biblical and classical studies have had difficulty attracting the curiosity of the media and the general public is that we as scholars don't realize that the way we approach these subjects was abandoned by so many other researchers in other fields of study such as linguistics, psychology and philosophy. The manner in which we study the classics and biblical texts should have died a natural death the way it did in other fields in the early 20th century but, curiously, it didn't.

The result of this is that these classical studies have lost their connection with the real world and society generally regards studies in these areas to be limited to religious fanaticism rather than intellectual pursuit, which after all, should be underlying tenet of all academic activity.

Obviously this point of view will offend those clinging to, what he terms, "reverential antiquarianism" and there will be much angst and conflict if studies in these areas are to be aligned with current academic practice and to regain the relevance to society generally.

Read more here.