A fundamentalist, propositional, literal approach to scripture is the most correct as it removes all risk of human error.

According to fundamentalist, propositional, literal readings of the scriptures, the Bible is a verbally inspired, authoritative text, which is inerrant. Many Christians who read the Bible in this way believe that it is the most correct view as it provides them with straightforward answers to moral dilemmas, and seems to reduce the risk of human error by limiting or even eradicating the influence the Bible's authors had.

While propositional interpreters may believe authors had little or no influence, however, it is obvious that the books of the Bible were shaped by cultural ideas at the time of writing (some chapters of Genesis, for instance, are believed to have been influenced by Babylonian creation stories). It must be questioned to what extent these ideas altered the intended messages of the Bible and whether the writers of the scriptures unintentionally and unknowingly contributed material containing errors.

As the first scholar to adopt a liberal approach to scripture, Schleiermacher supports this view. He postulated that it is likely that the authors' backgrounds had a significant impact on their account, and that many stories in the Bible have been interpreted to fit the writer's sitz im leben (setting in life).

Furthermore, fundamentalists believe in not interpreting the holy text, in order to reduce the risk of it being misread. Aquinas would agree with this approach, believing that "every word is inspired…