A Big Question

The more I meditate (verses and concepts going through my mind again and again while I'm cycling or meant to be working - not the ultra spiritual cross legged, silent version) on Genesis 1, the more a question grows in my mind:

'when do I move beyond the inherent meaning of a passage to projecting my own meaning onto it?'

I am aware of a dimension of philosophy that questions the ability of language to convey meaning. It argues that we project our meaning onto a text as we read, rendering the author 'dead'. This has been used to attack the Christian faith and we must guard against its implications. However it would ignorant to ignore the tension of this question, after all the Church has its past blotted with arguments over meaning. Somehow we need to discern between our socially constructed meanings and those that are inspired by God's Spirit.

I am concious that there is a verse in the New Testament that may be significant in this debate - were we not promised that the 'Spirit would lead us into Truth'?

Post your thoughts and also references of any books that you think might be helpful on this subject. My grasp of the subject is very weak but I feel it is one of those topics that we would benefit from some clarity on. Post modernism brings these big questions back into the forefront of our minds and now we must have the wisdom to discern its implications and the sense not to lose the insights of the ages gone by.