In both China and the West, there is an emphasis on the literal sense as the basis of all interpretations. By discussing the hermeneutic circle, the textual integrity, and the connection of the theological tradition from Augustine to Aquinas and Luther with contemporary literary theory, this essay comments on the various concepts and argues for the importance of the plain or literal sense of the text for valid interpretation.
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BarthesRoland. “The Death of the Author.” Image–Music–Text. Trans. Stephen Heath. New York: Hill and Wang, 1977. 142–48.
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EcoUmberto.The Aesthetics of Thomas Aquinas. Trans. High Bredin. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1988.
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EcoUmberto. with Richard Rorty, Jonathan Culler, and Christine Brooke-Rose. Interpretation and Overinterpretation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.
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FishStanley.Is There a Text in This Class? The Authority of Interpretive Communities.
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FroehlichKarlfried, ed. and trans. Biblical Interpretation in the Early Church. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1984.
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FroehlichKarlfried “Problems of Lutheran Hermeneutics.” Studies in Lutheran Hermeneutics. Ed. John Reuman with Samuel H. Nafzger and Harold H. Ditmanson. Philadelphia: Fortress Press. 1979. 127–41.
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GadamerHans-Georg.Truth and Method. 2nd revised ed. Trans. Joel Weinsheimer and Donald G. Marshall. New York: Crossroad, 1989.
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LutherMartin.Luther’s Works. Ed. Helmut T. Lehman. Trans. Eric. W. Gritsch and Ruth C. Gritsch. Vol. 39. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1970.
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Mueller-VollmerKurt.The Hermeneutics Reader: Texts of the German Tradition from the Enlightenment to the Present. New York: Continuum, 1990.
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SchleiermacherFriedrich.Hermeneutics: The Handwritten Manuscripts. Trans. James Duke and Jack Forstman. Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, 1977.
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Sūrangama Sūtra. Trans. Charles Luk. London: Rider & Co, 1966.
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ZhangLongxi.Allegoresis: Reading Canonical Literature East and West.
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Zhou Yukai周裕é.Zhongguo gudai chanshi xue yanjiu 中國古代é釋學研究 [Studies in Ancient Chinese Hermeneutics].
Shanghai:
Shanghai Renmin, 2005.
