Taking the Bible literally

One thing very enjoyable about reading The Year of Living Bibilcally was the authors sense of humor in many of his observation.

"In the Third Century, the scholar Origen is said to have interpreted literally Matthew 19:12 -- 'There are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven' -- and castrated himself. Origen later became a preeminent theologian of his age -- and ad advocate of figurative interpretation." (The Year of Living Biblically, p. 10)