Thoughts on Biblical Interpretation

A quote from the book on page 28, "There are gaps in the Bible, lots of them. The Bible shows rather than tells, in minimal language, and so stories that we think have one interpretation have many, there's always more than one, and these interpretations come from all the assumptions we make, conscious or unconcious, all the assumptions we've been taught."
I agree that there are many interpretaions to any piece of literature because of the presuppositions every human being brings to the table which includes all of his or her past experiences. On the otherhand I question the reasoning behind this quote on page 58.
"In other words, students need to understand that not all the Bible was intended to be read as histroy in the first place and that those parts that were intended to be read as history were not intended to read as objective but as faith-filled histories, intended and shaped from the start, didactic histories, gospels, good news with all faith in goodness of the news."
I believe that the author is saying that not all of the Bible should be treated as true to life incidents that fit into a bigger picture as the whole of the Bible. What is the reasoning for treating these stories as metaphors? And how does a person know what was the original intent of the Biblical author? To me it seems logical that though there are many interpretations to a text of literature there is only one intended meaning by the original author. This seems to be normative for literature throughout the history of time.

Some of my past and recent education was at a Bible school. In the Bible school I learned about the grammatical-historical hermenuetical way to interpret the Bible. I learned that interpretation of the Bible is more than just what I believe the text is saying or saying to me, but that it is written for a particular people group for a particular time in history. Here is a good explanation of the grammatical-historical interpretional method:

"The aim of grammatical-historical method is to determine the sense required by the laws of grammar and the facts of history;thus, the grammatical sense is the simple, direct, plain, ordinary, and literal sense of the phrases, clauses, and sentences. The historical sense is that sense which is demanded by a careful consideration of the time and circumstances in which the author wrote. It is the specific meaning which an author's words require when the historical context and background are taken into account" (Kaiser, Toward an Exegetical Theology), 88.

Note: "The most fundamental principle in grammatical-historical exposition is that words and sentences can have only one significance in one and the same connection" (Ibid), 88.

For more about this view of Biblical interpretation please go to: http://www.omahabiblechurch.org/institute_spring2002_4.html