The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross: A Study of the Nature and Origins of Christianity Within the Fertility Cults of the Ancient Near East ---with The Dead Sea Scrolls -The Story of the Recent Manuscript Discovery ---2 Volumes -by John Allegro

Don Mills: Paperjacks / Paper Jacks, 1970, 1st Printing ---iwth Middlesex: Pelican / Penguin, 1956. 1st Printing ----------2 volumes, paperbacks, both are solid Very Good copies, spine crease on MUSHROOM but a nice copy, 349 pages, "A major breakthrough in our understanding of the origin & nature of the languages of the Bible has made possible the decipherment of the names of the Jewish God & the patriarchs, & now shows the religion of the Israelites & their inheritors, the Christians, to have been founded in a very ancient fertitlity cult centered on the worship of the sacred mushroom, the red topped Amanita Muscaria. After many years of studying the origins & roots of words common to the Sumerian & later Middle Eastern languages, John Allegro believes that many of the stories & characters, & much of the Old Testament must be examined afresh. Biblical stories, previously supposed at leat partly historical, now appear as mushroom myths, conforming to a pattern of such mythology throughout the Near East & classical writings. When, later, the mushroom cult became sophisticated into a mystery religion, involving drug taking & frenzied god possessed orgies with political overtones, it ran afoul of the authorities. To avoid persecution, its devotees transmitted their secret formulae in adaptations of the old mythologies, & it is to such cryptic devices we owe the Jesus stories of the New Testament. The Roman persecutors of the early Christians were probably not deceived by the tale of the crucifies Jewish rabbi, but the later church purged away disturbing reminders of its cultic origins in the cause of respectability, & thereafter preached an historical Jesus.", ----SCROLLS is a solid Very Good copy but there is a splash to the front cover so a Good copy, ----------paperback, a solid Good copy with splash marks to the front cover, 208 pages, b&w photos, a bit of age toning to paper, any image directly beside this listing is the actual book and not a generic photo. First Printing. Mass Market Paperback. Very Good. Illus. by Text Cover.