Reply #17: The only things that matters is if YOU think it should be read literally. [View All]

I don't - although I have to restrict my comments primarily to the new testament.

And I don't have the citations you ask for at hand. But you can start with "Misquoting Jesus" for some of theological arguments and you might even try "The Hero With a Thousand Faces" for perspective on myth and metaphor.

Personally, I very much suspect that if some of the events that happened in the bible actually happened, there would be geological evidence as well as some archival records of dates and places. The fact that there are neither does suggest to me that these things never happened.

Now, if the most educated people of that period (those who could read and write) took the time to record something as cataclysmic as a great flood and meant it to be taken literally, then they could easily have provided some detail on when and where. My guess is that they intended their writings as stories and metaphors for believers.

Scientific and academic writings from the period exist and they provide detail that we use in the classroom and the real world every day.