One of my hopes for the Orthotomeo Project is its ability to locate and analyze the use of similar interpretive principles within the broad scope of theological discourse. The Orthotomeo Project endeavors to accumulate and depict theological argumentation on the basis of two core elements (see The Black Box) of statements and the reasoned interpretations thereof. Statements will be unique in the database and occur only once. Reasoned principles of interpretation can be used multiple times throughout the database (theological map) but will be linked so that one can later query their usage.
The advantage of this approach is that one can identify the effects of interpretive principles as they are used throughout the theological structure. Think for example about linguistics and translation. The principles of translation for particular verb forms are applied to a variety of verbs in the original texts. If one one considered interpreting a particular verb form differently one could, with the help of the Orthotomeo database, find other areas where this principle is used. One could then ponder the effects of using a different principle in other areas beyond the one which is currently of interest. That is to say that one could see the theological side-effects of interpreting differently. This would not be limited to translation but could be applied to other areas as well: textual criticism, principles of analogy, the analogy of faith or any other areas where interpretive principles are employed. Wherever an interpretive principle is used one could easily see where the same principle is used in other areas.
Some have called this entanglement. This is a good description. Hermeneutic principles have an effect not only in the local area where they are applied but in areas that go beyond the scope of the individual interpreter or a particular area of theology. The Orthotomeo Project will enable the user to quickly find where such principles are used and help the user calculate the effects of an interpretive choice.
