Karl writes about the true import and meaning of words and how they have been obfuscated and dulled over time by progressively literal interpretations. If we have lost sight of the deeper connotations of the words within the Bible, how can we access what is available to us therein? -Editor

It may seem trite to make this statement, but most people, secular and non-secular, recognise that the Bible is purported to be a spiritual document. Atheism may reject that spirituality is an integral part of reality, but nonetheless the Bible is held in that regard. By assuming that it is a spiritual document, it follows that its concerns are spiritual.

But even such a simple statement poses problems, for what exactly is it that is meant by the word "spiritual"? What is it that makes what are, after all, only words on a page written long ago significant in terms of spirituality? Is it enough to think this because the word "God" is used so much?

Most people do not ask such questions, and it is enough for them that it is called spiritual, "the utterances of Almighty God," to accept it as such at face value, and like the advert for varnish, declare that it means "exactly what it says on the tin."