Since beginning the Crossan book, we have discussed numerous times the concept of the gospels being metaphorical in nature rather than literal. If one takes the stories in the Bible as just that, stories, one can draw meanings and messages from within them rather than simply understanding them at surface value.
However, in recent times especially, many people have begun to interpret the Bible literally, probably due to the primarily literal, scientific nature of modern society. Clearly this is a problem unique to our era, as people who lived around Jesus' time were familiar with the idea of mythology providing non-literal guidelines.
If this is so, then how might people in the future interpret the Bible? As we do not currently know the future configuration of society, this is hard to predict. However, we can guess based on current trends. At the moment, many of the more progressive countries have been losing touch with religion and focusing instead on technology and the environment. As such, I would guess that in the future either religion will die out (which, I think, would not destroy society, but would be a great shame) or it will adapt dramatically to meet the needs of a new society. It seems likely that such an adaptation would lead to people interpreting religion in a more metaphorical way - so Christianity might end up being much closer to what it was supposed to be in the years directly following Jesus' death.
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