ethos, invention of a technical esoteric language, repression of innovation, conformity to peer-group values) which characterize all other professional groups. This removal of scholarship from a vital community had consequences disastrous for both. For the community it was disastrous because its own self-consciousness as a people under the Word was largely deprived of critical and constructive contributions. For scholarship it was disastrous because the questions asked of the texts were seldom ones