ABSTRACT
Biblical literalism is the belief that events in the Bible happened as described: Jesus rose from the dead, David slew Goliath with a sling and stone, Noah built an ark and so on. It is not an all-or-nothing belief, because even the most radical liberal is bound to accept that some of the events described must actually have happened, and even the most conservative fundamentalist will concede that the Bible can speak metaphorically in places. The issue is about where to draw the dividing line between what is essentially fact (even if coloured by the perception of the reporter) and what is essentially fiction (even if based on something that actually happened).
