As someone who lives in the world of Bible interpretation, I wrestle a lot with the most streamlined way to explain how we should approach the text of Scripture. "Literal" is OK in some contexts, but it will get you into trouble in others, and literalism as an overriding principle tends to produce simplistic fundamentalism.

Thus, I continually land on "historical-grammatical" as the best approach. What did this mean in its historical context, taking into account different genres (e.g., prophecy, poetry, historical narrative, etc.) and what do the words mean? This allows for a degree of literalism when necessary, but also the flexibility to incorporate metaphors and symbols, without resorting to complete spiritualizing, allegorizing, etc. - Travis M Snow