[is the flood story cosmic]
> I see two levels of intent here. There is the intent God had when He
> inspired the account. There is the understanding of the human writer and
> what he thought God intended. Under this view, the intent of the human
I'm speaking specifically about the latter. Whether that correctly
reflects the former is, so far as I know, not open to investigation
directly (although is perhaps inferrable from other considerations).
(Just so you know, I don't see inspiration as some kind of automatic-
writing experience capable of directly reflecting God's intent.)
While Biblical writers probably weren't young-earth creationists in the
modern sense, they seem to share many of the same views. Since the
modern movement claims continuity with these people, it is interesting
to examine what exactly those views were. Some, like you point out, have
been abandoned by the modern movement (firmaments and whatnot). There
are probably other differences, and I'm wondering what it is possible
to say about any that may exist with respect to the flood.
-Greg