Hermeneutics of faith


Hermeneutics of faith, the counterpart to hermeneutics of suspicion, is a manner in which a text may be read. It was the traditional or predominant way of reading the Bible for at least the first fifteen hundred years of Christian history. Both interpretive approaches combined are necessary for a complete knowledge of an object.
According to Ruthellen Josselson, " Ricœur distinguishes between two forms of hermeneutics: a hermeneutics of faith, which aims to restore meaning to a text, and a hermeneutics of suspicion, which attempts to decode meanings that are disguised." Rita Felski posits that Ricœur's hermeneutics of faith did not become fashionable because it appeared dismissive of the work of critique that defined an ascendant post-structuralism.
In his early essay "The Universality of the Hermeneutical Problem" and especially his Wahrheit und Methode, conservative German philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer asserts that one is always deciding between a hermeneutics of faith or a hermeneutics of suspicion when engaged in the act of reading.

Pope Benedict XVI's use of the term

During his October 14, 2008 address to the Synod of Bishops, Pope Benedict XVI cautioned,