The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Christian Myth

By Gavin Mortimer

Was Jesus of Nazareth a real historical person or a fictional character in a religious legend? What do the Dead Sea Scrolls reveal about the origins of Christianity? Has there been a conspiracy to suppress information in the Scrolls that contradicts traditional church teaching? John Allegro addresses these and many other intriguing questions in this fascinating account of what may be the most significant archaeological discovery of the twentieth century.As one of the original scholars entrusted with the task of deciphering these ancient documents, Allegro worked on some of the most important texts, including the Biblical commentaries. In 1961, King Hussein of Jordan appointed him to be honorary advisor to the Jordanian government on the Dead Sea Scrolls. In his engaging and highly readable style, Allegro conveys the excitement of the initial archaeological find and takes the reader on a journey of intellectual discovery that goes to the heart of Western culture. Allegro suggests that Christianity evolved out of the Messianic theology of the Essenes, the Jewish sect that wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls.This new edition of Allegro's book also contains an essay in which he describes the in-fighting among the scholars assigned to study the scrolls and his thirty-year battle to release all of the texts to the public. Allegro was one of the first scholars to protest the long delay in publishing the Scrolls and to criticize his colleagues for their secretive and possessive attitudes. This issue has recently been the focus of national media coverage, with the result that after forty years, open access to all of the Dead Sea Scrolls has finally been permitted.If he had lived to see it, John Allegro would have been very pleased by this resolution of the controversy. In the same spirit of free inquiry that Allegro championed, Prometheus is reissuing his book in paperback to encourage open discussion of these important ancient texts.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0879757574
• ISBN13: 9780879757571
• Release Date: March 1992
• Publisher: Prometheus Books
• Length: 278 Pages
• Weight: 1.04 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.3" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Paradigm

An excellent addition to any library. Not only does it grab the reader, but also provides plenty of examples to illustrate Allegro's assertions. You will quickly learn the "teacher of righteousness" found within the Dead Sea Scrolls is in fact a building block or prototype for a Jesus of Nazareth. Allegro's book offers invaluable insight to the origins of Christianity and the early Christian Church. With this information,...

A Brilliant Author -Maligned and Martyred For the Truth

Book in excellent condition. Eisenman and Allegro, while not in full agreement, are obviously on the right track. Christianity is known to have begun in Israel by Jews. It is well known by those scholars who are not biased that early Christianity was boxed in by Jews and Rome. They chose Rome. And so anything resembling what Jesus (or what ever the title represents) preached died completely around 325 CE when Rome adopted...

A gripping read

One of the most fascinating books I've ever read. I definitely give this book a 5 star rating. I spent 9 months of the last year researching Allegro's personal history, communicating with his family, etc., verifying accusations against Allegro, and investigating the personal history of those, like John Strugnell, who spent their lives in attempt to destroy Allegro's career. I've spent 12 years researching this field in...

Probably the best book I ever read on the subject

I have read many books about Christianity and Jesus historic discussion; besides that I watch every Tv program that discusses this time of history. I read the portuguese translation of this book. Well, I have to say that this is, probably, the best book I ever read on the subject. Allegro became a largely polemic historian when he spoke about his theory that the New Testament episodes were evoked by mushrooms' consumption...