What's really important?

Distinguishing between what the text meant (authors original meaning) and what the text means (application) was not a concern. Interest was more in the effect the text produced, which is why we cannot draw a straight line from this approach to grammatical-historical or even historical-critical methods of interpretation. Since the intent of criticism was to effect a response, ancient exegetes expected literature to be morally uplifting. This entailed the exercise of moral judgment (krisis), which included literary, or rhetorical, evaluation. Questions of authenticity, dating, and the like were raised here, but it was much less critical in our sense, and the moral search for virtue was predominant.—Early Christian Readings of Genesis One, page 133