In my opinion extra-biblical is different than apocrypha, but it's not the same as every-other-book, like books written about Mohamed in 700 AD. What defines a book as extra-biblical for the purposes of tagging questions? (it it even a necessarily a book? my shoes are extra-biblical).
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3 Answers
The extra-biblical tag is for secular historical records. But it really only makes sense to use it for questions asking for records from roughly the same time period as the Biblical texts.
answered Feb 8, 2017 at 0:25
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2yes, that makes more sense, like (see-also:Josephus)– Peter Turner ModCommented Feb 8, 2017 at 0:26
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I wonder if it would make sense to merge it with history and rename both. To what, I'm not sure. But both, I think, attract questions that really don't fit, because of their misleading names. Commented Feb 8, 2017 at 18:12
After pondering the dark wander's answer for a minute or two, I think I'd like to offer up the option that it is completely useless to us as a tag and should be nuked.
If there are to be questions about works sacred to the various sects and faith traditions, they should be tagged with what they are, not using the blanket tag extra-biblical. I don't think there are any sacred works that wouldn't merit their own tag and the existence of a nebulous tag is confusing.
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If we look at the general guidelines for tagging in SE, I think Peter's point is a solid one. Test criteria; can this tag stand alone or does it always have to have another tag associated with it? More test criteria: if you just put that tag in and search, does it actually help you find questions/answers on the topic you are interested in? I suggest that we nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure. Commented Feb 8, 2017 at 3:42
It's for Christian Sacred texts that aren't argued to be a part of the Bible by the people using them. So it doesn't apply to the apocrypha or The Ethiopian Book of Josippon, but it would apply to the Book of Mormon (although we already have another tag for that), the Didache, and other such works held to be sacred, yet not a part of Biblical canon, by a group of people identifying as Christians. Obviously this tag only is meaningful for groups where the Bible is somehow distinct from the set of all doctrinal sacred writings for that group.
answered Feb 7, 2017 at 20:25
