Not To Be Confused With
Hermeneutics is the theory and method of interpretation; exegesis is the actual practice of interpreting a given passage. Your hermeneutic guides your exegesis.
Named for Hermes, the messenger of the Greek gods. Hermeneutics asks how meaning is rightly recovered: the role of context, genre, authorial intent, the analogy of Scripture (reading unclear texts by clearer ones), and the place of the reader. Everyone has a hermeneutic; the question is whether it is a good one.