As mentioned earlier, I think that A. Philip Brown II’s Hope Amidst Ruin: A Literary and Theological Analysis of Ezra is the best book on the theology of Ezra available. Last week I posted notes I took from the book on the way that literature works. Here are the links to those posts in one place:
In the ancient world, Ezra and Nehemiah were treated as one book. Someone looking for a dissertation topic would do well to do for Nehemiah what Brown has done for Ezra. The fact that Ezra and Nehemiah were treated as one does not mean that Brown should have done both Ezra and Nehemiah, since the Twelve Minor Prophets were treated as one Book of the Twelve, and everyone grants the legitimacy of studying them individually. Whoever does the work on Nehemiah could profitably compare his/her findings to Brown’s on Ezra . . .
Enjoy!