isn’t about time that learned more about this past
it is after all , fundamental to christian , judeism and muslim faiths
I think you’re missing the fact that historical criticism currently dominates the scene of biblical studies. Indeed, “biblical studies” as a field is pretty much synonymous with “historical criticism”, such that new fields have needed to be opened up such as the “theological interpretation of scripture” to make legitimate other ways of reading biblical texts.
On a personal note, I’ve done a lot of studying of the book of Job and it can be hard to find a commentary that doesn’t begin with near eastern precedents for the text or a survey of the social climate. (The common precendent being the Babylonian “A Man and his God” in the case of the book of Job.) Or in my studies of Biblical wisdom, it doesn’t take long to find a deep drawing upon the Egyptian Ma’at (see von Rad’s seminal Wisdom in Israel sor instance, where a strong relation between wisdom and Ma’at is made). Or if looking at Genesis 1, and creation, all too often comparisons are made to the Enuma Elish…
(Don’t get me wrong, it makes sense to compare these texts, but while they may be informative they by no means ‘seal the deal’ of our understanding, nor can they. And I think this “past” that you believe has been discounted has in fact been very much taken into account. Too much so being my point.)