Distinguished philosopher Giorgio Agamben offers an archaeological inquiry into the problem of scriptural interpretation. The problem of interpreting Scripture--above all, sacred scripture, but ultimately any form of writing--coincides with the very history of Western culture. It is no surprise, then, that an archaeological inquiry such as the one proposed here--on the problem of interpretation from Origen to Auerbach, from the Talmud to Benjamin--might hold unexpected revelations. Essential reading for scholars of theology, religious studies, and hermeneutics interested in the history of scriptural interpretation, The Spirit and the Letter highlights how the interpretation of Scripture reveals itself as inseparable from ethics and politics.