The attentions given to textual production in composition scholarship have led to a neglect of the dynamics of textual reception. Renewed acquaintance with the discipline of hermeneutics will provide scholars and instructors with a more comprehensive understanding of the relationship between interpretive processes and rhetorical strategies. Building on the work of Phelps, Mailloux, and Crusius, this article revisits Gadamer and Ricoeur, two of the more prominent scholars of modern hermeneutics, for the purpose of applying their principles to learning objectives and class assignments in college-level writing courses.