&gt; Creationism and biblical literalism are relatively recent &quot;innovations&quot; in some Christian traditions.<p>This isn&#x27;t really true.  You&#x27;re right that metaphorical interpretations are very old, but <i>so are literal ones</i>.  The catholic church, who pioneered some great non-literalist interpretations, <i>also</i> used to excommunicate you if you didn&#x27;t believe all of humanity shared a single male ancestor named Adam.<p>Pick a random medieval christian peasant, and ask him whether the Ark was a real boat, and let&#x27;s place wagers on what his answer will be.<p>The genesis stories were literal before they were metaphorical, and opinions about the relative percentages of fact to metaphor have shifted wildly based on century, region, and denomination.