This paper clarifies the concept of the “hermeneutics of suspicion”, improving our understanding of how suspicion and trust interact when interpreting oral, written or human texts. This is achieved in three stages. The Prefiguration stage contextualises the concept historically and discusses its development at various points in history.The Configuration stage critically examines Paul Ricoeur’s double hermeneutics of destruction and reconstruction. The reconfiguration stage is open-ended, with a couple of reflections on the ongoing ball-game relationship between the hermeneutics of suspicion and trust.