''The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Christian myth'' is a
1979
Events
January
* January 1
** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...
book about the
Dead Sea Scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls (also the Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the Qumran Caves in what was then Mandatory Palestine, near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the nor ...
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
Jesus Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
. It was written by
John Marco Allegro
John Marco Allegro (17 February 1923 – 17 February 1988) was an English archaeologist and Dead Sea Scrolls scholar. He was a populariser of the Dead Sea Scrolls through his books and radio broadcasts. He was the editor of some of the most famo ...
The book was written nine years after Allegro's forced resignation from academia due to publishing ''
The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross
''The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross: A Study of the Nature and Origins of Christianity Within the Fertility Cults of the Ancient Near East'' is a 1970 book about the linguistics of early Christianity and fertility cults in the Ancient Near East. I ...
''. It is an imaginative look at what life would have been like at Qumran,
Palestine
__NOTOC__
Palestine may refer to:
* State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia
* Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia
* Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
at the time when Jesus was supposed to have lived in the 1st century CE.
The book's aim was to show the logical progression of
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
history through the writings and
archaeology
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
of Qumran, as opposed to the (unique) revelation of traditional Christianity. Allegro suggested that traditional
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
developed through a literal misinterpretation of symbolic narratives found in the scrolls by writers who did not understand the minds of the Essenes. He further argued that
Gnostic Christianity
Gnosticism (from grc, γνωστικός, gnōstikós, , 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems which coalesced in the late 1st century AD among Jewish and early Christian sects. These various groups emphasized per ...
developed directly from the Essenes and that Jesus Christ was a fictional character based on a real person, who had helped established the Essene movement (or ''"Way"'') and lived in the 1st century BCE, around one hundred years before the traditional period of New Testament events. In a chapter entitled "Will the real Jesus Christ please stand up," Allegro referred to this man as the Teacher of Righteousness.
Allegro argued that the word ''Essenes'' signified "healers" and that the Essenes had inherited a lore of healing with plants and stones that had been passed down from the " fallen angels" that arrived on Mount Hermon mentioned in the Book of Enoch. He presumed their establishment of Qumran complex by the
Dead Sea
The Dead Sea ( he, יַם הַמֶּלַח, ''Yam hamMelaḥ''; ar, اَلْبَحْرُ الْمَيْتُ, ''Āl-Baḥrū l-Maytū''), also known by other names, is a salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Bank ...
was related to the interpretation and anticipation of a prophecy about the Teacher of Righteousness, a "man whose appearance was like the appearance of
bronze
Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...
, with a line of
flax
Flax, also known as common flax or linseed, is a flowering plant, ''Linum usitatissimum'', in the family Linaceae. It is cultivated as a food and fiber crop in regions of the world with temperate climates. Textiles made from flax are known in ...
and a measuring rod in his hand," () who was to somehow create
life
Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...
giving
water
Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...
s to flow into the Dead Sea from a
temple
A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...
in some northern location ().
Reaction
The book received widespread criticism from the academic community: numerous rebuttals were published, and other members of the team pointed out the problems with Allegro's arguments. Randall Price called Allegro "the father of scroll sensationalists" for his interpretations of the scrolls. Allegro believed that there was a conspiracy to prevent publication of the scrolls because they could damage the image of Jesus, which was later repeated by
conspiracy theory
A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources:
*
*
*
* The term has a nega ...
The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception
''The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception'' (1991, ) is a book by authors Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh. Rejecting the established scholarly consensus that the Dead Sea scrolls were the work of a marginal Jewish apocalyptic movement, and following ...
''.
Allegro's theories about the relationship of the scrolls to Jesus were widely rejected and led to his rapid downfall. Allegro had previously published ''The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross'' in 1970, with even more theories about Jesus. Allegro was heavily criticized by many scholars, including his own mentor at Oxford, and his publisher issue an apology. Allegro's scholarly reputation was destroyed, and he had to resign from his academic position.