Postmodern hermeneutics, in which we reserve the right to ask any questions, is constitutionally anti-authoritarian and democratic. Without [presupposing] hermeneutics, you would never be able to explain what a democracy is. Without democracy, you would never be able to practice hermeneutics; you would end up in jail, or worse.
(from Hermeneutics: Facts and Interpretation in the Age of Information, p. 11)
My idea is to see not whether religion can save us but whether hermeneutics can save religion – from itself. I bring up the interpretation of religion not only because it is so much in the news but also because there is something religious about interpretation, something which taps into the deep structure of our lives, a certain proto-religion, which will, however, provide little consolation to the pious.
(p. 21)