Original sentence: These books were written during the formative period of the Jewish or Christian faiths; the leaders of these communities believed these books to be inspired by God and to express the authoritative history of the relationship between God and his people (although there may have been secondary considerations as well)
Edited sentence: These books were written during the formative period of the Jewish or Christian faiths in the pre-scientific ancient world; the leaders of these communities believed these books to be inspired by God and to express the authoritative history of the relationship between God and his people (although there may have been secondary considerations as well)