Ben Levi: As far as Rabbi Meiselman’s sefer-I cannot judge because I did not read his book- Rabbi Slifkin has some compelling answers against some of his points but I cannot judge either. BTW- it is ironic that you rely upon Rav Meiselman’s secular knowledge (degrees,etc) yet you will totally dismiss arguments from anyone who has studied natural sciences in (horror!) university because it does not align itself with your views of chazal!In other words, you laud secular knowledge when it suits you and dismisses it when it does not suit you….
As far as the main point of contention- you prove my point by pointing to the rishonim who may not agree with the approach to “aggadata’ that Rabbi Slifkin (and others) espouses. Since some of these sources are being questioned, ipso facto, there are views that do espouse these so-called “novel” approach.
As far as these sources, Rabbi Slifkin has a website where he has dealt with this quite exhaustively. I cannot add to his arguments.
May I add that I do not espouse all of Rabbi Slifkin’s views and I accept a lot more the mystical aspect of our traditions than he does but I also don’t accept the views of some of his detractors who reject all rational approaches to chazal.
Incidentally, if you rely on the Rambam that much,the present positions on kollel learning by the non-chareidi world have a lot more in common with the Rambam than the chareidi side.
Lastly, I have principal objections to Rabbi Meiselman when he aligns himself with anti-Israel positions.And again,I will respect your vies and try to look up the ones you mentioned.