ALLEGRO, JOHN M.

(1923–1988)

A member of the team that was translating and supposedly publishing the Dead Sea Scrolls, Allegro reached the controversial conclusion that earlyChristiantexts are a coded record of the Essene community’s use ofhallucinogenicmushrooms. Publication of his views inThe Sacred Mushroom andthe Cross(1970) was at least partly responsible for his departure from the official translation team. The full publication of the scrolls (which he had argued for) took place years after his death and has demonstrated that his argument is without warrant. Nonetheless, there are still adherents of the view that “Jesus was a mushroom.”