Review: 'The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross' by John M. Allegro

Originally published in 1970 'The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross' by John M. Allegro was recently republished in 2009, by the Allegro Estate and Gnostic Media. This edition contains all notes and indices and it is from this latest, 40th anniversary edition that this review has been written, with thanks to Gnostic Media for providing a review copy.

In 1970, sections of the The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross were serialised in the British newspaper The Sunday Mirror. A paper that leant to the left politically and had a wide, popular circulation. Subsequently, and no doubt caused by this marketing coup, the text came under intense and vitriolic attack. However, whilst the controversy, or rather the questions, perhaps lingered on, the furore quickly died away, alongside any attempt at scholarly scrutiny of the theory the text contained. But why the controversy?