# Methodology

## Purpose
This project develops a durable, auditable argument corpus.

## Principles

### 1. No survey-language shortcuts
Avoid formulations like:
- "what Jews believed"
- "if you asked an early first-century Jew"

Unless carefully narrowed and sourced.

### 2. Distinguish categories
Do not collapse:
- canon
- authority
- interpretive authority
- rhetorical borrowing
- conceptual overlap
- direct quotation
- framework-level dependence

### 3. Preserve claim granularity
Every important argument should have:
- a claim ID
- a stable formulation
- mapped evidence
- reuse targets

### 4. Avoid premature overclaiming
Where evidence is partial, say:
- "suggests"
- "participates in"
- "preserves"
- "may indicate"

Reserve stronger claims for well-supported cases.

### 5. Build toward stronger conclusions gradually
The series should move:
- from method
- to textual environment
- to case studies
- to authority questions
- to interpretive necessity

### 6. Separate tool from research
Tooling may assist this project, but the research corpus remains independent.