There are three elements in the interpretation of a text. The author, the text, and the reader.
In seeking to understand a text, we should give the text priority. The text leaves the author’s head and becomes something different than the author himself intended. The reader may see something the first time he reads a text but when he reads it again, he realizes that he was wrong. This does not mean that that the author or the reader are less important than the text. There remains a demand to be faithful to the original author while being relevant to the present reader. It is just that the text itself is the center of the exchange. The text has its own life.