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For faithful Christians, the Bible is divinely inspired and true in a way that transcends any apparent contradictions or defects in its details. Catholics further describe the Bible as free of substantial moral error. Fundamentalists though take on too much of a burden in holding that the Bible is accurate in every detail and should be taken as if it is a modern work of history and science.

Yet, if one thinks about it, the Bible cannot be taken as science or history because neither discipline existed when the Bible was composed. At most, we may attempt in a limited fashion to validate the Bible as science and history by applying the standards and reasoning of those and other modern disciplines. In doing so though, we should always keep sight that the Bible was a product of its eras of composition and of the purposes of its authors and editors.

Thus, in keeping with ancient practice, the Bible was grounded on actual events even though it also added details and interpretation so as to better provide moral instruction and a proper setting for revelation and prophecy. More than mere history or myth, the Bible is literature in the grand sense of a written work meant to inform, instruct, and elevate its readers.

As a matter of historical fact, the Bible fulfilled that purpose by providing the moral grounding for Western civilization. As much as I disagree with Fundamentalists about how the Bible should be viewed, I am in full agreement with them in seeing it and Christianity as essential to the survival of Western civilization.