Herman Who?

Hermeneutics 1. the science of interpretation, esp. of the Scriptures.
2. the branch of theology that deals with the principles of Biblical exegesis.

This is what this word means and for many it is a word that confounds them. Many people read scripture in light of what it means to them at that moment in time. Their emotions/feelings, current situation, etc all play a factor in what the Biblical text speaks to them. This is referred to as reader response. I read something and then I can respond to it in the way that is most pleasing to me. Oprah Winfrey is a prime example of reinterpreting things especially literature to determine what it means "to her".

The reality is, it doesn't matter what it means to you or her or anyone else. What matters is what the author intended. Our quest is to see what the Authorial Intent of scripture is. There is a Historical Grammatical context (who what and why it was written and to whom) this is how we need to look at scripture. When I first became a Christian I always wondered why the leaders used verses out of the context for which they were written like Jeremiah 29:11 to tell people that God will prosper them. It was baloney and a bad Hermeneutic. We should know this word not because it is a fancy word but because it's meaning is vital for us to rightly read and study the Bible.