ABSTRACT
Interpretation is one of the most basic acts and important or long-standing methods in the study of religion. This, of course, is where the problems begin to creep into this seemingly simple task of interpreting something or someone. If explanations of religion are all agreed that religion or religious activities should be explained by reduction to a non-religious cause or origin—regardless of the explanation—then interpretations of religion, which presuppose that the things designated as religions possess a meaning which must be decoded or perhaps even appreciated, have the potential to be radically divergent, often agreeing on very little and sometimes even contradictory. Coinciding with biblical hermeneutics is the activity of philosophical hermeneutics, broadly understood as the theory and methodology of interpretation. Thus, critical scholars are uninterested in which interpretation is correct; rather, they study the conditions that allow one of the many to be seen as legitimate along with the practical implications of its operationalization and use in daily life.
