ABSTRACT
Comprises the general theory and practice of interpretation. The term was first specifically applied in the seventeenth century; but hermen- eutic practice is as old as the exegesis of texts. Many questions that are still current in contemporary interpretation can be traced through the history of Western hermeneutics, which typically handled two categories of text: Classical and Biblical. Each was obscured by cultural and historical distance, yet each held a meaning or value that the interpreter tried to reach. In theology, Origen produced a triple explication through grammatical, ethical and allegorical meanings, and Augustine added an 'anagogical' or mystical dimension.
