Contemporary conservative Christian exegetes claim both inerrancy and literalism as hermeneutical principles, but will always sacrifice the latter to the former. The โthis generationโ of Mark 13:30 that will see the Son of Manโs return, for example, must be read as referring not to the generation listening to Jesus, or Markโs original audience, but to the reader of the 21st century.
โ Theogore M. Vial, โIntroductionโ in Ethical Monotheism, Past and Present: Essays in Honor of Wendell S. Dietrich (Providence: Brown Judaic Studies, 2001) p.1.