Biblical Hermeneutics is going to hit private beta soon.
How does this affect us? Do we migrate questions that would be on-topic there but already were asked and answered here? If so, when?
asked Sep 23, 2011 at 16:39
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3 Answers
I really don't see the purpose in having it as a separate site. Or, to put it a different way, are there any questions that would be on-topic in Biblical Hermeneutics that would not also be on-topic here? But if we can't convince the SE people of that, IMO the best thing to do would be to ignore it and hope it goes away. We really don't need two Bible discussion sites drawing questions away from each other; it will just weaken both sites. We've already got a well-established site here, and it's doing remarkably well by all accounts. Let's just keep asking and answering out Bible-interpretation questions on here, and let the BH site fend for itself.
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@Richard: That's precisely what I'm trying to avoid: having two competing sites. That won't be healthy for either one. Every time I think about the BH site, I think "any house divided against itself cannot stand."– Mason Wheeler ModSep 23, 2011 at 17:24
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2Questions that would be on topic there and not here might include discussions of the "Old Testament" since most of those books also belong to Judaism, for starters. Sep 23, 2011 at 18:15
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1@jcolebrandφ: and BiblicalHermeneutics.SE will be a duplication also for Judaism.SE Sep 24, 2011 at 9:09
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1Agreed, the splintering and sub-splintering of topics on SE now is one of the least attractive parts of it and very frustrating to users (who are often frustrated enough!).– mxyzplkSep 25, 2011 at 12:30
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1new to this discussion, but here is my two cents. Biblical Hermenneutics is a specific academic practice, whereas "Christianity" is broad topic that covers Bible answers, theology, application, etc. There are not many topics that are honestly shared in expertise or practice. on the BH site questions of interpretation, Greek grammar or textual examination would be prevalent and those would be rare and out of place on a "general" Christianity site. I would think.– blundinSep 27, 2011 at 19:21
How StackExchange Works
After discussing with other moderators and SE employees, this is how StackExchange works in this situation:
While the destination site is still in beta, nothing will be migrated to that site unless it is truly off-topic for Christianity.SE but on-topic for ChristianHermeneutics.SE. Since that's clearly will never be the case, we can rest assured that we don't have to worry about our questions migrating away, but we may begin seeing questions migrating to us.
In essence, the rule is "Don't migrate to a site in beta unless it's specifically off-topic for the main site". So, once (if) ChristianHermeneutics goes live, we may begin migrating new questions there.
So, for now, it does not impact us. Once they go live, it will.
For comparison, take a look at the meta questions on Literature.SE and Sci-Fi and Fantasy.SE's (which are both in public beta) that address this issue.
Seeming as personally I despise bible scholars and I love Christians, I for one welcome the false dichotomy our SE overlords have allowed us to impose on ourselves.
in any event this:
Being the one who proposed the Hermeneutics site, I can't immediately think of any reason not to merge it with Christianity. Just as long as people understand that Hermeneutical questions deal with objective reading and not traditions or extra-canonical teachings.
is why Biblical Hermeneutics is a bad idea, the same reason Sola Scriptura is a bad idea. But that's just me being Catholic. I'm glad it's a separate site and I can utilize the might of Apostolic Tradition here to provide more well rounded answers instead of just Good Bookin' it.
Biblical Hermeneutics seems to be based on the presupposition that Protestants are superior Bible readers. I'd say Protestants in practice read the Bible at a superior rate, but we all have the same capacity for digesting it and learning from it.
So I'll be avoiding that site for the same reason I avoid reading the bus schedule if I'm not going anywhere.
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Then there's the other point that they'll only have the Bible, and we've got a lot of other scripture... Sep 23, 2011 at 19:21
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3Also, it wasn't the SE Overlords. The site was suggested by the community, followed by the community, and committed to by the community (the three steps for a site to hit beta). SE just sit back and let it happen.– RichardSep 23, 2011 at 20:38
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1@Richard, I thought they generally closed those closely related ones. It seems like the passive will of the SE overloads is providing for the impending schism, to the detriment of both parties.– Peter Turner ModSep 23, 2011 at 21:38
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1Well, they were hoping that the BH site would launch first...but unfortunately for them, we launched about a month earlier. :P Sep 24, 2011 at 3:49
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1I appreciate your reason for liking this as a separate site. Although I think we could easily find room for "strict BH" questions here. We already allow for "What does X tradition believe?" questions, asking a BH question in the same way seems quite possible, if the asker does not want answers that include other sources of information.– FlimzySep 25, 2011 at 5:15
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As it has turned out (so far) Protestants are a majority there, but the primary minority is Jewish (as opposed to this site's Catholic minority). I wish more Catholic interpreters visited the site, however. The focus of the site is understanding the Bible, but there are no particular restrictions on the tools used. Apostolic tradition is just as welcome as the Talmud or textual criticism. But since everyone who uses it has chosen to stay home, the world of is a less rich place. Is there any way I could persuade you to read the site occasionally? Jan 9, 2012 at 21:22