The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross (1970 Allegro), book
The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross; a study of the nature and origins of Christianity within the fertility cults of the ancient Near East (1970) is a book by John Marco Allegro.
Abstract
"Where did God come from? What do the bible stories really tell us? Who or what was Jesus Christ? This book challenges everything we think we know about the nature of religion. • The ancient fertility cult at the heart of Christianity • The living power of cultic rites and symbols • The sacred mushroom as the emblem and embodiment of divinity • The secret meaning of biblical myths • The language of religion that links us to our ancestors The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross sets out John Allegro's quest through a family tree of languages to find the truth about where Christianity came from."--Publisher description.
Editions
Published in London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1970 and in Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1970. Reprinted in New York, NY: Bantam Books, 1971; Don Mills, Ontario: Paper Jacks, 1971, 1973; London: Abacus, 1973 and Sphere Books, 1974. Translated into French in Paris: A. Michel, 1971.