Abstract

Since the noetics of moderate realism provide a firm foundation upon which to build a hermeneutic of common sense, in the first part of his paper the author adopts Thomas Howe’s argument that the noetical aspect of moderate realism is a necessary condition for correct, universally valid biblical interpretation, but he adds, “insofar as it gives us hope in discovering the true meaning of a given passage.” In the second part, the author relies on John Deely’s work to show how semiotics may help interpreters go beyond meaning and seek the significance of the persons, places, events, ideas, etc., of which the meaning of the text has presented as objects to be interpreted. It is in significance that the unity of Scripture is found. The chief aim is what every passage of the Bible signifies. Considered as a genus, Scripture is composed of many parts/species that are ordered to a chief aim. This is the structure of common sense hermeneutics; therefore in the third part the author restates Peter Redpath’s exposition of Aristotle and St. Thomas’s ontology of the one and the many and analogously applies it to the question of how an exegete can discern the proper significance and faithfully interpret the word of God.