Textual Multiplicity and Interpretive Freedom

Sor Juana's scholarship engaged with biblical texts, classical philosophy, and theological authorities not by finding the one true interpretation but by allowing different readings to illuminate different dimensions of truth. She read Augustine alongside Aristotle, medieval mystics alongside contemporary science, creating a rich tapestry of interpretation rather than a hierarchy. This concept challenges the assumption that authenticity requires settling on one tradition's reading of shared texts. Instead, it proposes that traditions are living precisely because they can accommodate multiple, sometimes tension-filled interpretations. In navigating authenticity across traditions, textual multiplicity offers freedom without relativism: we can honor a text's canonical importance while refusing to be bound by any single institutional reading. This practice prevents traditions from calcifying into dogma while maintaining their coherence. Sor Juana's example shows that intellectual rigor and interpretive freedom are not opposed—careful, learned engagement with texts actually opens up more interpretive possibilities rather than fewer.