A new website has been setup dedicated to the life and work of John Allegro. Allegro is best known primarily for two pieces of work – his involvement with the Dead Sea Scrolls project (later known as the ‘maverick’ of the team, for – shock, horror – pushing for faster publication of the scrolls), and the release of his controversial book The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross, in which he posited his theory that a fertility cult based on use of psychedelic mushroom, amanita muscaria as a gateway to divine understanding, was at the root of many religions, including Christianity – which basically destroyed his career.
John Marco Allegro (born in London 17 February 1923, died 17 February 1988) was a freethinker who challenged orthodox views on the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Bible and the history of religion…
…Four main issues brought Allegro into contention with other scholars:
- Access to the scrolls
- The Copper Scroll
- What the scrolls reveal about the origin of Christianity
- Controversial ideas about language, religion and mythology.
The website has some of Allegro’s publications on site, some audio downloads, synopses of his books and even an image gallery showing mushroom iconography in early Christian art. Worth a visit.
