"Whatever is not worth doing, is not worth doing well." That's a humorous spin on an old maxim, but I think it's appropriate here.  Theologians and biblical scholars do their jobs very well, but it's a wasted effort, contrary to the assertion of Mr. Tammeus.  It made sense before the discovery of science, when people had no other framework for understanding their world. Now one biblical assertion after another has been proven false, textual criticism has revealed how impossible it is to take much if any of the Bible literally, and science, reason and a healthy skepticism make it clear that, rather than being made in the image of God, we have made many gods in our own very diverse images.  Jesus' "living presence," and any faith, is so amorphous as to be both the inspiration for incredible good as well as incredible harm.  The history of the Muslim and Christian faiths is testament to that, and the fact it took so long for the Catholic church to apologize for its past reveals a lot.