Meaning and Understanding is a study in comparative hermeneutics that shows how a person's philosophical commitments affect his or her approach to, and interpretation of. Scripture. Beginning with the Copernican revolution in epistemology which began with Immanuel Kant, the author surveys and analyzes the thought of major philosophers and schools of philosophy as they have influenced hermeneutics from the 18th century to the present.

Part One deals with hermeneutics from the perspective of continental idealism, ranging from Kant through Schleiermacher, Hegel, Heidegger, and Bultmann to Gabriel Marcel in the 20th century. Part Two examines the influence of Anglo-American realism and empiricism, ineluding Russell, Whitehead, and continental thinkers in this strain, such as Wittgenstein and Michael Polanyi.

Royce Gordon Gruenler was a Fulbright scholar and Danforth graduate fellow at the University of Aberdeen, where he received the Ph.D. He was formerly professor of philosophy and religion at Hiram College, Ohio, and is currently professor of New Testament at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.