In 1970, a scholar of the Dead Sea Scrolls named John Allegro published The Sacred Mushroom and The Cross, in which he posited that Jesus Christ was not a historical messiah so much as he was a psychedelically induced vision that acts as more of a metaphor. Specifically, Jesus Christ as a result of the psychoactive mushroom Amanita muscaria. As his theory goes, the New Testament is a dense web of coded language concealing an underground fertility cult rooted in ancient Mesopotamia and fueled by hallucinogens.
The theory was roundly and vocally rejected by scholars in the field, but according to Popular Mechanics, interest in his research is being revived by, who else, but Joe Rogan and the new breed of conspiracy theorists whose interests heavily overlap with the consumption of psychedelics.
Allegro’s method leaned heavily on Sumerian as a kind of master key connecting Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. Most linguists were unconvinced. Critics argued his Sumerian translations are a stretch or just flat out wrong.
None of that deterred the folks behind the Joe Rogan Experience, who reintroduced the book to a whole new generation fluent in both psychedelics and a distrust of commonly accepted institutional knowledge.
While the theory has been largely discounted, some suspect that Allegro may have accidentally stumbled on something here — the idea of psychoactive substances playing a role in religious cultures that produced early Christianity.
Popular Mechanics points out that there is some archaeological evidence to support this theory. A recent study in Scientific Reports detailed plant-based hallucinogens found in a 3,000-year-old Spanish cave and a psychotropic residue in a second-century BCE Egyptian vase. These suggest that it is entirely possible that early civilizations could have imbibed psychedelic substances, and the ensuing hallucinations became the basis for early religion.
None of this proves Christianity began as a mushroom cult, but it puts Allegro’s work in a new light. It may not have been academically sound, but he may have still been heading on a core truth: maybe the religious beliefs people hold dear began their lives as a psychedelically altered mental state.
But it reframes Allegro less as a crank and more as a cautionary tale: bad methods can obscure worthwhile questions. Whether or not Christ was code for fungus, examining how altered states shaped ancient belief is legitimate scholarship. The danger isn’t in asking — it’s in forcing the answer.
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