2025/08/09 by Richard S. Ascough · 1 voice
Psychology · Arts and Humanities · #Psychedelics and Drug Studies #Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices #Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.3390/rel16081029
openalex publication_date 2025/08/09 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23
John Allegro’s The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross posits that early Christianity derived from fertility cults involving psychedelic mushroom use. Though widely discredited by scholars when it was first published, the theory persists in popular culture and entheogenic discourse. This article evaluates the scholarly reception, methodological flaws, and enduring cultural impact of Allegro’s thesis, particularly its role in the broader psychedelic mysteries hypothesis. Although Allegro’s linguistic methodology has been rejected by most experts, his work has contributed to renewed interest in the role of entheogens in religious traditions, with some scholars attempting to salvage Allegro’s intuitive insights while distancing themselves from his linguistic excesses. Due to its foundational methodological flaws, however, Allegro’s work is best viewed as a historical curiosity rather than a reliable source for contemporary entheogenic scholarship.