"If you just dismiss these religious texts as opium for the dull medieval masses, you might miss some deep poetical truths about mankind that just cannot be stated explicitly because of the shortcomings of any human language described above."
I generally agree with your take on how we should read these texts.
However, nobody (that I know of) has been using Shakespeare to justify preventing me from buying whiskey on a Sunday.
These texts are read as literal truth by the people where I live (rural Texas) and used to justify some pretty heinous things.
So at the same time that we might wish to read these books as literature, I understand the impulse to dismiss certain modes of reading these texts as harmful.
I don't know many folks who hate the literature itself, though I'm sure they exist somewhere; however, dismissing some exegetical modes seems reasonable to me.
I generally agree with your take on how we should read these texts.
However, nobody (that I know of) has been using Shakespeare to justify preventing me from buying whiskey on a Sunday.
These texts are read as literal truth by the people where I live (rural Texas) and used to justify some pretty heinous things.
So at the same time that we might wish to read these books as literature, I understand the impulse to dismiss certain modes of reading these texts as harmful.
I don't know many folks who hate the literature itself, though I'm sure they exist somewhere; however, dismissing some exegetical modes seems reasonable to me.