Interpretation of texts

The principle for interpretation of statutes and contracts is holistic -- we look at the entire document to make sense of the parts assuming that the writer always intended there to be a meaning to the text.

Today's Vatican news release has an interesting passage about interpretation of Scripture -- and it seems to follow much the same principle:

" "A good hermeneutic cannot mechanically apply the criteria of inspiration, or absolute truth, in the extrapolation of a sentence or expression. The level on which it is possible to perceive Sacred Scriptures as the Word of God is that of the unity of God's history, a totality in which single elements are reciprocally illuminated and open themselves to understanding"."