John Allegro (1923–1988)
Author of The Dead Sea Scrolls
About the Author
Image credit: John M Allegro
Works by John Allegro
The Sacred Mushroom and The Cross: A study of the nature and origins of Christianity within the fertility cults of the… (1970) 387 copies, 8 reviews
The Chosen People: A Study of Jewish History from the Time of the Exile until the Revolt of Bar Kocheba (1971) 45 copies, 1 review
The end of a road 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Allegro, John
- Legal name
- Allegro, John Marco
- Birthdate
- 1923-02-17
- Date of death
- 1988-02-17
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- UK
- Birthplace
- Balham, London, England, UK
- Place of death
- Sandbach, Cheshire, Engand, UK
- Education
- University of Manchester (oriental studies) (1951)
University of Manchester (M.A.) (1952) - Occupations
- Lecturer in Comparative Semitic Philology
scholar
philologist
naval officer (R.N.) - Organizations
- Dead Sea Scrolls Editorial Team
University of Manchester - Short biography
- John Marco Allegro was a freethinker who challenged orthodox views on the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Bible and the history of religion.
After service in the Royal Navy during World War II, Allegro started to train for the Methodist ministry but transferred to a degree in Oriental Studies at the University of Manchester. In 1953 he was invited to become the first British representative on the international team working on the recently discovered Dead Sea Scrolls in Jordan. The following year he was appointed assistant lecturer in Comparative Semitic Philology at Manchester, and held a succession of lectureships there until he resigned in 1970 to become a full-time writer. In 1961 he was made Honorary Adviser on the Dead Sea scrolls to the Jordanian government.
Members
Reviews
The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross by John M. Allegro
I made it to chapter 5 before I choked. There's some good stuff in here, but it's surrounded by so much BS as to render it virtually useless. His fixation on and wild misreading of ancient near eastern fertility cults was what finally ended my foray. As Freud was fond of saying, "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." Sadly, Jesus was not a mushroom, and Judaism, Christianity and Islam are not vast conspiracies covering up sacred shroom munching.
Vastly extensive research into the origin of belief. I think it proves many points that it does not intend.
A scholarly study worth reading, although its radical claims have not been well received.
From a Hudson's Bay department store, early 1970s.
From a Hudson's Bay department store, early 1970s.
This is a comprehensive and exciting introduction to the Dead Sea Scrolls - a group of texts belonging to the library of an ancient Jewish set that were stashed away across several caves in the Dead Sea area near Jerusalem. Over two thousand years later, in 1947, the first of them were accidentally discovered by a shepherd boy who was searching for a lost goat. Many fragile texts were destroyed or fragmented during their initial handling, and many were sold on by the local tribes. After word of their discovery got out, and their significance was beginning to be realised, more caves were sought out and further scrolls discovered over the next ten years, both by archaeologists and scholars who wanted to translate and publish their contents, and by local tribes who became aware of their monetary value.
In places this reads like a thriller, as the main protagonists try to track down the plundered texts through shady black markets, piece together lost sections, and reveal their historic importance. The author was among the first people on the scene due to his expertise in ancient Hebrew and Semitic language, and so had first-hand experience of the atmosphere of discovery and the urgency to preserve these unique documents that had not been seen for thousands of years.
The significance of their content varies between the different manuscripts found in the haul, but the rarest and most important contain the oldest known versions of several Biblical and Jewish books, including several from the Old Testament. These existed in many forms before they became standardised many hundreds of years after they were originally written, when the variant texts died out and the information contained in them was largely lost. Some of these scrolls therefore could hold the nearest versions to the originals of many of the texts that survive now only in translation, along with all the modifications that translations involve. In various instances the earlier versions of the text carry additional sections, or different readings, which change the interpretation of their meaning significantly from the current standard versions.
We also learn a lot here about the Jewish Sect that owned and concealed these scrolls. They are generally known as the Qumran sect, after the location, and as their actual name is not known. They had many non-standard Jewish practices, and isolated themselves away from the rest of society to maintain spiritual purity away from worldy concerns. Established around 200 BC, they lasted until their destruction by the Romans around 70 AD. This is a very interesting time, as a lot of conflict was going on between opposing Jewish groups, and this period also covers the coming of Jesus and the foundation of Christianity. We learn about the beliefs, initiations, structure of the community, and way of life of the Qumran sect from their religious documents that were among the Dead Sea Scrolls, and very little is known of them outside of this source. In many ways their differences from standard Jewish practice pre-empt many Christian monastic practices and beliefs, and they focus a lot on the coming of the Messiah which is particularly apt due to the time period in which they existed.
As an introduction to the scrolls this covers a lot of the main important and interesting areas, with an excitement and energy that would be difficult to reproduce by an author not involved in the early days of their physical discovery, and scholarly investigation. However this book was written over sixty years ago, and inevitably a lot more is known about the scrolls now that would be included in a more up to date introduction. Still, it is well worth a read for those generally interested in history, archaeology, languages, or more specifically in Judaism or Christianity.… (more)
In places this reads like a thriller, as the main protagonists try to track down the plundered texts through shady black markets, piece together lost sections, and reveal their historic importance. The author was among the first people on the scene due to his expertise in ancient Hebrew and Semitic language, and so had first-hand experience of the atmosphere of discovery and the urgency to preserve these unique documents that had not been seen for thousands of years.
The significance of their content varies between the different manuscripts found in the haul, but the rarest and most important contain the oldest known versions of several Biblical and Jewish books, including several from the Old Testament. These existed in many forms before they became standardised many hundreds of years after they were originally written, when the variant texts died out and the information contained in them was largely lost. Some of these scrolls therefore could hold the nearest versions to the originals of many of the texts that survive now only in translation, along with all the modifications that translations involve. In various instances the earlier versions of the text carry additional sections, or different readings, which change the interpretation of their meaning significantly from the current standard versions.
We also learn a lot here about the Jewish Sect that owned and concealed these scrolls. They are generally known as the Qumran sect, after the location, and as their actual name is not known. They had many non-standard Jewish practices, and isolated themselves away from the rest of society to maintain spiritual purity away from worldy concerns. Established around 200 BC, they lasted until their destruction by the Romans around 70 AD. This is a very interesting time, as a lot of conflict was going on between opposing Jewish groups, and this period also covers the coming of Jesus and the foundation of Christianity. We learn about the beliefs, initiations, structure of the community, and way of life of the Qumran sect from their religious documents that were among the Dead Sea Scrolls, and very little is known of them outside of this source. In many ways their differences from standard Jewish practice pre-empt many Christian monastic practices and beliefs, and they focus a lot on the coming of the Messiah which is particularly apt due to the time period in which they existed.
As an introduction to the scrolls this covers a lot of the main important and interesting areas, with an excitement and energy that would be difficult to reproduce by an author not involved in the early days of their physical discovery, and scholarly investigation. However this book was written over sixty years ago, and inevitably a lot more is known about the scrolls now that would be included in a more up to date introduction. Still, it is well worth a read for those generally interested in history, archaeology, languages, or more specifically in Judaism or Christianity.… (more)
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Statistics
- Works
- 15
- Members
- 1,309
- Popularity
- #19,619
- Rating
- 3.3
- Reviews
- 15
- ISBNs
- 37
- Languages
- 3
