While, for many, the old and destructive controversy as to whether the Bible is to be taken literally has long since been resolved, modern research and scholarship has progressed far beyond this debate. The point of the research has not been to destroy the credibility of the Bible but rather to understand Scripture better. In the process many popular and traditional certainties have fallen by the wayside. Scholars doubt that Moses led the Israelites across the Red Sea or into the Sinai; that David is the author of the Psalms, or indeed that Solomon was even wise. These and dozens of other illusions are being stripped away -- and more will surely follow. Beyond this there are the larger contradictions which exist between the law and spirit of the Old and New Testaments. The modern believer needs both to know of these findings and put them into a perspective which will enhance rather than diminish understanding of the Scriptures.
