In this book I have argued that the historical origins of two of the hallmarks of modernity – the identification of the meaning of a text with its author's intention, and the privileged status of scientific discourse – were closely intertwined. The modern approach to texts, driven by the agenda of the reformers and disseminated through Protestant religious practices, created the conditions which made possible the emergence of modern science. However much we might regret the passing of the old certainties, one of the advantages of living in a post-modern world is that it gives us a perspective from which to evaluate the previous age and enables us to identify those features of modernity which up until its apparent demise we had taken for granted. New approaches to texts characteristic of the latter half of the twentieth century serve to remind us of the historically-determined nature of all hermeneutical enterprises. While the profusion of‘readings’ characteristic of the post-modern age might evoke a nostalgia for a time when all texts had a determinate meaning, and there were clear criteria which enabled us to approach that meaning, more importantly, they should also furnish us with important insights into pre-modern readings of texts, and to the magnitude of the hermeneutical revolution which took place in the early modern period.