How to Interpret the Creation Account in Genesis?

I have seen many discussions and debates among Christians over how to interpret the creation account in the first chapter of the book of Genesis (and to be honest, I've participated in a few such discussions myself). Some contend that the creation account in Genesis tells us that the world was created in six literal days. Others say that the six days are symbolic, and not meant to be interpreted literally, and that therefore the creation of the world may have taken much longer than six days. The question of how to square the interpretation of Genesis with modern scientific theories and discoveries is usually raised as well, since modern science seems to rule out the possibility of a recent, literal six-day creation.

Well, a few months ago, I read a great series of posts on this topic on Jimmy Akin's blog. Jimmy Akin is a Catholic apologist who is very well-read and knowledgeable in areas such as moral theology, ancient languages, and Biblical scholarship. He is a also a very clear thinker who backs up his claims with detailed documentation and sound logic.

In this series of posts, Jimmy considers the pros and cons of five different possible interpretations of the creation account in Genesis, based on the following criteria:

The question I'm asking is: "Given what the text says, how likely is it that this is the correct interpretation of the text?" . . . My interest is in figuring out what the text most likely means taken on its own terms, not trying to harmonize it with modern science.

I found Jimmy's conclusions to be very interesting, and perhaps slightly surprising. Admittedly his conclusions are just his own opinion, but he makes some convincing arguments. Here is a link to the entire series of posts on a single page:

Genesis One

Or here are separate links, in order, for each post:

1. Interpreting Genesis One
2. The Day-Age Interpretation
3. The Revelatory Day Interpretation
4. The Gap Interpretation
5. The Ordinary Day Interpretation
6. The Framework Interpretation