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Currently, the tag is blacklisted. This was done as a matter of course based on the fact that this is "Biblical Hermeneutics" and this is "hermeneutics.stackexchange.com". It's a standard matter of course that an SE site will automatically blacklist a given tag that is presumed to be the entire content of the site.

However, we are an exception!

This site, while named "Hermeneutics" isn't entirely about hermeneutics. Instead, we encompass exegesis as well as hermeneutics. Because of this, the automatic black-list on the is actually not helpful.

Should we petition for the removal of the "hermeneutics" blacklist?

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  • While the discussion here addresses this issue, this post is partially meant to help us come to a consensus and also to help get the attention of the people who actually have the power to change this (SE staff).
    – Richard Mod
    Commented Nov 4, 2011 at 16:09
  • A analogous situation would be if a site about Art were created. Most questions would be about things like painting and sculpture and chalk drawings and so on. But sometimes you might have to examine the broad scope of your topic. Sure all the questions are about Art, but really most of them are "applied Art", so to speak. One might decide to use a tag like art-theory but that would be inferior to just tagging questions about Art as art. What makes Hermeneutics particularly troublesome is that it is the accepted term for both the rules and talking about the rules of interpretation.
    – Jon Ericson
    Commented Nov 4, 2011 at 16:26
  • Hermeneutics is used for talking about the application, but not for actually applying the rules. For that, we have "exegesis", which is a larger topic than Hermeneutics on this site. (And then there's "translation" thrown in there as well.)
    – Richard Mod
    Commented Nov 4, 2011 at 16:27

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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Yes

The is insufficient for our needs. Please allow us to use the tag.

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  • Although this tag is cumbersome, I think it serves a purpose of making people think twice about why they are using the tag instead of just tagging it "just in case". That's the problem with meta tags, people tend to stick them on to everything.
    – Caleb
    Commented Nov 7, 2011 at 12:43
  • @Caleb Honestly, I could see either way and I don't have an opinion on the matter. Per your comment, I've deleted my "No" answer since it really didn't add anything to the discussion that a simply down-vote here wouldn't add. However, your comment here would make a great "no" answer!
    – Richard Mod
    Commented Nov 7, 2011 at 12:45
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No

I don't think the blacklist should be lifted.

The is a bit cumbersome and wordy when it could easily be called just , but I think it's specificity serves a purpose that would not. The latter is rather a "meta" tag that -- whether due to lack of knowledge about what it means or just a desire to catch as much attention as possible -- is likely to get stuck onto all kinds of questions. The advantage of the wordier tag is that it forces people to think about what that actually means and whether it is applicable to their question. On a problematic tag like this, I think that is actually a useful barrier.

I would like to see that tag include only questions specifically focused on the field hermeneutics itself, and on a site where even the exegesis questions involve hermeneutics, just a plain hermeneutics tag is likely to get polluted with all sorts of things.

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  • I think this is a great point that shouldn't be underestimated.
    – Richard Mod
    Commented Nov 7, 2011 at 13:15
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    I just had a look at what the tag has become and I think even in it's overly wordy form it has already included too many things and lost focus. I would argue that if anything it should be further refined not generalized.
    – Caleb
    Commented Nov 7, 2011 at 13:32
  • I wonder if the catch-all nature of the tag would disappear if we changed our name? I agree we need to get more specific not less. (So I'm in the unusual position of voting both yes and no to this question.)
    – Jon Ericson
    Commented Nov 7, 2011 at 18:03

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