Syncretism, timeline of humanity, and Christianity

A mystery for the second day. Non-Covid post.

Students of history and geology oft run afoul of the timeline presented in Judeo-Christian Torah/Bible. How long have humans actually been around? This is followed rapidly by the question “How long have humans been spiritually evolved?”

That this subject has not been explored in depth within academia likely relates to 1)the slant toward atheism on the part of most historians and geologists; 2) the unwillingness of Western religious scholars to tackle what was going on with spirituality in pre-Torah period.

“Syncretism” is one term used to describe how one religion builds upon the ideas and practices of another. Examples include the adoption of Christian saints to represent Orishas/gods by practitioners of vodou, or the placement of Christian churches on sites of pagan worship. Most obvious to Westerners is the adoption of the Jewish Torah by Christians as a foundational sacred text.

Various scholars have observed parallels between stories of the “sacrificial God” Jesus and other stories from ancient Egypt, India etc. These stories are problematic for Christian scholars, who are averse to comparisons being made between Jesus and any other God.

The historical problem raised by the possibility of a long period of human sophistication prior to the Biblical era is that it begs the question of what spiritual beliefs and practices existed during these eras.

There appear to be few scholars of history who are sufficiently attuned to matters of spirituality in order to illuminate a more complete “history of spirituality,” which might help 1) resolve apparent contradictions between Great Religions I.e. Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism; 2) resolve apparent contradictions between Great and “Lesser” religions which do not have authoritative sacred texts I.e. vodou, Native American spirituality, Polynesian/Australian spirituality.

The problem with such scholarship is that it antagonizes various group: religious fundamentalists, who feel that their belief systems are being undermined; and atheists, who discount the study of spirituality as irrelevant.

Turning to Torah and New Testament to finish off, we see in both books that references are made to other/older religious practices. Some of these references are neutral or positive, I.e. the Magi.

Was Judaism built on a religious foundation of another Great Religion?

How many (tens of?) thousands of years back does enlightened human spirituality extend?