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Temple of Sumer
Welcome to the Temple of Sumer, a resource for those interested inlearning about the religion and myths of the Sumerian peoples. We will bebringing you all and any information that you might need in order tounderstand the myths, andreconstructthe religion.In ourbookssection you will find reviews of the best books on the AncientNear East along with books to avoid and why. We will be paying particularattention to how useful the books are to both the beginning and advancedstudent.In ourmythsection you will see our modern English versions of the myths.We will be bringing you an easy to understand version of the mythswithout losing the meanings and implications that were put there by thepeoples of the Ancient Near East.Over in ourreligionsection you will find information on how you as aSumerian Reconstructionist can help bring an ancient religion back to life.We will tell you about the morals, beliefs, and practices of ancient andmodern Sumerian practitioners.In ourbiblicalsection we will be showing some of the places where thebible gets some of its most popular ancient myths. We will show how sometraditions and customs are far older than once suspected, and we willexplain why people do what they do.Ourlinkssection provides on line resources where you might findelectronic resources such as the ETCSL from Oxford university, and an online Lexicon of the Sumerian language. Also in here you will find links tomessage boards and other resources where Sumerians and otherReconstructionists get together.Community is important for every religion, so we will be adding resourcesto allow people from distant lands to get together. We hope to eventuallymake a message board, and an off line place of worship, but for now enjoyour guest book and feel free to send one of us anEmail.
What is Reconstructionism?
If you've heard the word Recon in pagan circles, you may find that it refersto a highly educated individual who has some differing views from the restof the group. Often this individual will correct others on various pieces of information from history. This is not to say that they are correct, and thateveryone else is wrong. It just reflects a completely different point of viewfrom modern neo-paganism.Reconstructionist pagan religions start with a religion that has not beenworshiped for hundreds if not thousands of years and attempts to bring itback. It is imposable to bring a religion back exactly the way it was,because the culture that the religion developed in is now gone, but we canbring back the traditions and the beliefs in order to honor the gods. There are various religions that we cannot reconstruct because we don'thave enough information about them. If we can't read the language of thepeople and not enough was written about the people, then we cannotreconstruct the religion. This is what prevents people from reconstructing
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Minoan and Etruscan religion. We simply don't have enough pieces of thepuzzle to make out a picture. There is more to reconstructing a religion than simply getting a list of thegods and worshiping one or more of them. It does no good to worship agod or goddess if you have no idea who they are, what they have done,and what they want from their worshipers. To find this information out weneed research and study. This is what gives Recons the reputation forbeing obsessed with research.
How to Recon
 The first thing to do when reconstructing a religion is to find out who thepeople were. This allows you to get an idea of how to approach the gods,what sort of mind set that they instilled in the people who worshipedthem. We may not be able to reconstruct an ancient culture, but we needto understand why they did what they did.Once you have a good idea of who the people were you need tounderstand the gods. The best way to do this, at least at first, is to readthe myths. The myths give us a glimpse into the lives of the gods. Theytell us who the gods were by showing us a glimpse of some of the notablethings that they have done.Many of the ancient myths are damaged or flawed. We should attempt tofigure out what those myths meant and what might have been in theplaces that are damaged. On the other hand there is a point wherespeculation should stop. A real Recon will never make up the ending of amyth. It is considered particularly despicable to make up sections of amyth simply to forward one's own religious beliefs.Some stories were humor and not meant to be taken seriously at the time. This needs to be kept in mind. Ancient peoples had a sense of humor andwere sometimes even allowed to poke fun at the expense of their gods.Some of these stories reflect humorous views of the myths, where otherswere meant to depict some comical aspect of the gods. Either way theyare useful in telling about the nature of the gods.In some religions when one section of the religious doctrine contradictsanother section of the religious doctrine the worshipers are encouraged toignore the contradictions as though they weren't there. Reconstructionistreligions have many myths that contradict other myths. There were manydiffering groups in most ancient religions, and each of them had a differentway of looking at the gods. There will be times when two conflicting mythsmust be reconciled. One view will need to be accepted while another viewwill need to simply be understood.Myths and ancient belief sometimes do not mesh well with modern beliefsand scientific knowledge. The ancients weren't always right. Occasionallythe ancients were completely wrong about something. We don't simplythrow out these ancient beliefs as foolish. Some of the beliefs were meantto be taken spiritually, while others make sense given the context thatthey lived in. The earth might not be flat, but the sections that they livedin might be.
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 The myths don't tell us everything about a god. There might be a godknown for farming prosperity that has a myth where they are a warrior. This doesn't mean that they were a god of war, just that they have takenup arms at one time. It would be like presuming that a person who joinedthe military for four years was a military commander. To find out more about the gods you need to read literature written byancient sources and the scholarly studies that have been written aboutthem since. This requires more research and study. It also requires accessto a moderate supply of books and journals.Once you are this far you can start to reconstruct the rituals and forms of worship. You have enough to know how to be respectful of the ancients,and have probably picked up useful pieces of information along the way.Be careful as you reconstruct a religion not to throw in old beliefs andbiases. If you came from a religion that believed in reincarnation forexample, then you might try to see reincarnation or karma in your newreligion. If these elements are not there, then don't add them. If you areforced to disregard what the ancient peoples held dear, or if you areunwilling to give up a strongly held belief, then perhaps Reconstructionismisn't for you.
Communities
Many of the ancient religions have already been reconstructed to someextent. Greek, Norse, Egyptian and Roman religions have beenreconstructed and are there to provide support for the interested Recon. There are also small pockets of Recons who can be found here and therealmost at random who are not part of a community, but who would like tobe. They may worship less popular pantheons such as Sumerian,Canaanite, Aztec, or Welsh just to name a few. The first thing to do when looking into a community is to check to see if they are a healthy community. If they tell you not to do research or thatthey will tell you all that you need to know about the gods, then youshould stay away. Religions with a large number of secret teachings or thatall live in one big house are other things to be cautious around.Get to know the texts that your prospective community draws from. Thecommunity shouldn't hide the myths from you or twist the myths to suittheir own purposes. They should be free and open with information andact as guides and teachers who help you understand myths and scholarlytexts.A good community should provide education and emotional support. Theyshould stimulate the mind rather than provide dogma. They should provideanswers to why they believe what they believe, and how their beliefs differfrom the beliefs of other similar communities.Above all a community should expand your social contact with othersrather than restrict it. If the community tells you that they are to be youronly contact with the outside world then they are attempting toindoctrinate you rather than educate you.
Warning signs
It is sadly true today that there is a lot of bad information out there. It iseasy to assume that something is correct when you see it in two or three
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