@JackDouglas I voted for it too, though I share your concern that as general guidance it might need a bit of a rewrite. This sounds more like "what Jon does" than "what we should tell all users", though Jon is an excellent role model and users would do well to emulate him.

Here's how that question looks to me right now: the answers from me, Jack #2, and Jon are fundamentally similar: show all the steps. Jack's answer is stricter than mine in calling for sourcing of facts (while I only said better answers will do that and if you don't you might get comments). Jon goes a step farther and says not just "show your work" but "show the work"; a secondary source that doesn't lay out its reasoning does not satisfy Jon (maybe not Jack either; not specified).

Jon and I call out allegory as a method that needs particular attention here; Jack does not. (Given how much of it we get, I think it would be wise to say something there.)

Jack, @JonEricson -- what are your thoughts? How do you think we should proceed?

@MonicaCellio I've been thinking that we should ask about what standards we should have for allegory and answers that cite commentaries but don't show the work. They are two sides of the same coin from my perspective.

Allegory tends to be disconnected from the historical situation and commentary tends to be disconnected from the text. (Both are generalizations, of course.)

@JonEricson they are perhaps related, but one is pure assertion and one is assertion with a pedigree, at least. :-) I mean, is it "showing the work" if I cite a well-regarded scientific text that says the practical limit on human height is N feet, in discussing Goliath, if that text doesn't explain why? I think we should always strive to show the work all the way down, but I wonder if it's practical. But the opposite of this is not free-for-all; we're looking for a reasonable middle ground.

Tag question: the excerpt for Luke says "The first half of Luke's history of the church..." -- where's the second half? (Telling me is ok, but referencing it in the tag wiki is better.)

I'm one point shy in the tag to suggest a synonym: please consider "mishkan" as a synonym for tabernacle. (Starting to type the former won't get you anywhere near the latter...)

Do we really need ancient-near-east (5 questions), or should it be merged into history?

Is synoptic-problem (4 questions) really different from synoptics?

Ok, chat might not be the best way to do this. Tags can't be flagged, which is why I'm asking these things here. Is there a better way? (I don't think we really want one-off meta posts for handling individual tags, though if that's better, just let me know. We've done it before, I think.)

Oh, I see how synonyms work now; both tags have to already exist. So I can't suggest alternate terms/spellings ("mishkan", "avraham", etc) without actually going and using those tags. Whee. On the other hand, I can go ahead and propose the others I suggested, so I'll do so. (I have enough tag score on synoptics? Wha...?)

Thanks for inviting me! I tried to improve some of my answers and questions. I know my style is

Weak. I am afraid even offensive to some. I am not learned in this level of discussion. Does that mean there is nothing worth while in all I could contribute so far?

Hi @hannes. Thanks for your efforts! I don't see anything offensive in what you've written, but some of it is kind of hard to understand. Please bear with us as we ask what must seem to you to be obvious questions so we can understand.

Thanks for the edit to this question. I'm still confused, unfortunately. You say God "challenges" humans, but where does the text say that? Or is that a doctrinal idea that you're bringing to the question? You then ask in the question what the significance of the name is; that's a fine question but seems different from your title. I got a little lost in "it is not yours to define me"; that doesn't seem to be a quote, or is it? You then talk about other names; I'm not sure how that ties in.

@hannes, I'm not trying to be ultra-picky here; I'm trying to understand what question or questions you're asking so we can help you clarify them. (I'm saying "we" because I hope others will jump in here and help once we better understand what you're looking for.) Thanks.