What Christianity's official position was on a number of major doctrinal points wasn't really "settled" until the 6th century, either (it's only Christianity becoming the official faith of the Roman Empire in the 4th century that really begins the process of making those decisions, though certain heresies like Gnosticism were already in decline by that point). My favorite example is always Origen, the third century theologian who was a strong proponent that even the obvious metaphorical language should be taken literally. He saw the passage "There are eunuchs who became eunuchs for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven" and...well...became a eunuch for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven.
That was in Origen's youth. His theological work tended toward the reverse - to look for metaphorical meanings. He believed that the OT especially contained many absurdities, and things that would be immoral if taken literally, and concluded they pointed instead to spiritual truths.
