Allegro's views don't necessarily reflect my own"– well taken; with one caveat – his views, vs his claims of view. I'm sure he had views – but not necessarily as advertised. More likely he kept them 'down low'– and only reflect in his "theorizing" story about the unsavory, drug-infested True Origins of Christianity (its "Secret History" as he scandalized it). The book was the culmination of twenty years’ study of Semitic and proto-Semitic languages. Allegro hoped it would illuminate the origins of thought, language and religion. People should then be able to better understand where they came from, shed the trappings of religion, and take true responsibility for what they did to each other and their world. Judah K. Lefkovits, "The Copper Scroll (3Q15): A Reconsideration", in Lawrence H. Schiffman; Shani Tzoref, eds. (2010). The Dead Sea Scrolls at 60. Leiden: Brill. p.181. ISBN 9789004185050.

John Allegro believed that Essenism was the matrix of Christianity. There were so many correspondences between the scroll texts and the New Testament – words and phrases, beliefs and practices, Messianic leadership, a teacher who was persecuted and possibly crucified – that he thought the derivation obvious. This brought him into conflict with the Catholic priests on the editing team, and with most church spokesmen, who maintained the orthodox assumption that the arrival of Jesus was the unique, historical, god-given event described in the Gospels. Allegro suggested it might be less unique and miraculous than they said. He also started to look in more depth at the way the New Testament appeared to weave together a mix of folklore, myth, incantation and history, and to ask why. This would mean making the texts accessible to all. Allegro had published the sections of text allotted to him in academic journals as soon as he had prepared them, and his volume (number five) in the official series Discoveries in the Judaean Desert of Jordan was ready for the press by the early 1960s. He continually campaigned for the publication of all scroll texts. However, his colleagues took a different approach, and little else appeared until 1991. The Eleusinian Mysteries were initiation ceremonies held every year for the cult of Demeter and Persephone in ancient Greece. A drink called kykeon was consumed which the Illiad says was made up of barley, water, herbs and goats cheese. In the Odyssey, however, the character Circe adds a magic potion to it. Some speculate that the barley used in this drink was parasitized by ergot (a fungus) and that the psychoactive properties of the fungus were responsible for the intense experiences that people reported at Eleusis. Ergot contains ergotamine, a precursor to LSD – this is why Albert Hoffman used ergot to synthesise LSD. John M. Allegro was an English biblical scholar and archaeologist who is best known for his book “The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross”. He was born on February 17, 1923, in London, England and died on February 17, 1988, in Somerset, England. Allegro's book The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross (1970) argued that Christianity began as a shamanistic cult. In his books The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross and The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Christian Myth (1979), Allegro put forward the theory that stories of early Christianity originated in an Essene clandestine cult centred around the use of psychedelic mushrooms, and that the New Testament is the coded record of this shamanistic cult. [23] [24] Allegro further argued that the authors of the Christian gospels did not understand the Essene thought. When writing down the Gospels based on the stories they had heard, the evangelists confused the meaning of the scrolls. In this way, according to Allegro, the Christian tradition is based on a misunderstanding of the scrolls. [25] [26] He also argued that the story of Jesus was based on the crucifixion of the Teacher of Righteousness in the scrolls. [27] Mark Hall writes that Allegro suggested the Dead Sea Scrolls all but proved that a historical Jesus never existed. [28]Weston W. Fields (2009). The Dead Sea Scrolls, A Full History. Vol.1. Leiden: Brill. p.211. ISBN 978-9004175815. a b c George J. Brooke, "Dead Sea Scrolls Scholarship in the United Kingdom", in Devorah Dimant, ed. (2012). The Dead Sea Scrolls in Scholarly Perspective: A History of Research. Leiden: Brill. p.458. ISBN 978-9004208063. Considering how fragile the threads by which your composure hangs are – danger Will Robinson – warning warning: Beware Allegro’s END OF A ROAD (1970) his infamous sequel to SACRED MUSHROOM AND THE CROSS. You best be careful to steer the hell clear of that thing if you value your ‘blissful ignorance’– so riled by the informed perspective I speak from.

King, John C. (1970), A Christian View of The Mushroom Myth, London, UK: Hodder & Stoughton, ISBN 978-0340125977 The PDF delves into the hypothesis that the early Christian rituals and beliefs may have been influenced by the use of psychoactive mushrooms. It discusses the potential involvement of these mushrooms in religious practices and their impact on the development of symbolic elements in Christian art and tradition. Allegro went on to write several other books exploring the roots of religion; notably The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Christian Myth, which relates Christian theology to Gnostic writings, classical mythology and Egyptian sun-worship in the common quest for divine light. As I delved deeper into the content of the PDF, I encountered in-depth analyses of historical texts, religious art, and cultural practices that hint at the possible use of psychedelic mushrooms in ancient religious ceremonies. The authors present compelling arguments and draw connections between various historical and archaeological findings. James VanderKam, Peter Flint, The Meaning of The Dead Sea Scrolls: Their Significance For Understanding The Bible, Judaism, Jesus and Christianity, pp. 323–324 (T & T Clark International, 2002). ISBN 056708468X, also in Time, Volume 67, Issue 6 (6 February 1956), article entitled "Religion: Crucifixion Before Christ" [1]

a b c d Mosley, Charles, ed. (1982). Debrett's Handbook 1982, Distinguished People in British Life. Debrett's Peerage Limited. p.30. ISBN 0-905649-38-9. John M. Allegro was born February 17, 1923 in London. He served in the Royal Navy then studied at the University of Manchester, where he obtained a first-class Honors Degree in Oriental studies in 1951. A year later, he was awarded a Masters degree for his work on the Balaam Oracles. His Oxford research on Hebrew dialects was interrupted when in 1953 he was called to join the first international team of scholars working on the newly discovered Dead Sea Scrolls in Jerusalem. The Sacred Mushroom And The Cross Summary J.M. Allegro (1956). "Further Messianic References in Qumran Literature". Journal of Biblical Literature. 75 (3): 174–187. doi: 10.2307/3261919. JSTOR 3261919.