Don't have a lot of time today, but a quick comment regarding Scripture genre and how to read. It's really not an either/or proposition as to reading the Bible a certain way. There are elements of history, literal and figurative sections of Scripture. I understand the objections, but if the authors intended them to be literal, we should read as such, if they intended to be figurative, then we read accordingly.
Of course, we wouldn't always know at first blush what it's intended to be, and that's where in depth study can be helpful. Just throwing in my 2 cents.