John M. Allegro
John Marco Allegro | |
---|---|
UK[2] | |
Known for | The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross, Dead Sea Scrolls studies |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Archaeology |
John Marco Allegro (17 February 1923 – 17 February 1988) was an English
Early life and training
Allegro was born in 1923, son of John Allegro and Mabel (nee Perry).
The Copper Scroll
It was on Allegro's recommendation in 1955 that the Copper Scroll was sent by the Jordanian government to Manchester University in order for it to be cut into sections, allowing the text to be read. He was present during the cutting process in 1956 and later made a preliminary transcription of the text, which he soon translated, sending copies of his work back to Gerald Lankester Harding in Jordan.[8][9] Although Allegro had been first to translate the Copper Scroll, the text was assigned for editing to J.T. Milik by Roland de Vaux, the editor in chief of the scrolls.[10] While he was in England he made a series of radio broadcasts on BBC Radio aimed at popularising the scrolls, in which he announced that the leader discussed in the scrolls may have been crucified.[5] He posited that the Teacher of Righteousness had been martyred and crucified by Alexander Jannaeus, and that his followers believed he would reappear at the End time as Messiah, based on Qumran document Commentary on Nahum 1.4–9[11] (a position that he re-iterated in 1986).[12] His colleagues in Jerusalem immediately responded with a letter to the Times on 16 March 1956 refuting his claim.[5] The letter concluded,
It is our conviction that either he [Allegro] has misread the texts or he has built up a chain of conjectures which the materials do not support.[13]
One result of this letter seemed to be that his appointment at Manchester was not to be renewed.[14] However, in July after several uneasy months the appointment was renewed.[15]
Allegro was asked a number of times by the Jordanian Director of Antiquities if he would publish the text of the Copper Scroll.[16] After a few years of waiting for Milik's publication of the scroll, Allegro succumbed and set about publishing the text.[17] His book, The Treasure of the Copper Scroll, was released in 1960, while the official publication had to wait another two years. Although several of his readings in the text are acknowledged, Allegro's book was disparaged by his colleagues.[9] He believed that the treasure in the scroll was real—a view now held by most scholars[9]—and led an expedition to attempt to find items mentioned in the scroll, though without success.
During this period Allegro also published two popular books on the Dead Sea scrolls, The Dead Sea Scrolls (1956) and The People of the Dead Sea Scrolls (1958). He was keen to photograph the site of Qumran and various texts, providing an important source of information for posterity.[17]
Publishing the Pesharim
Allegro was entrusted with the publication of 4Q158–4Q186, a collection of fragments which mainly contained exemplars of a unique kind of commentary on biblical works known as pesharim. He believed that it was necessary to get these works out as quickly as possible[18] and published several preliminary editions in learned journals during the late 1950s. He told de Vaux that he could have his share of the texts ready in 1960, but due to hold ups had to wait until 1968 for his volume, Discoveries in the Judaean Desert of Jordan V: 4Q158–4Q186, to be published.[19] He reworked his material in 1966 with the assistance of a Manchester colleague, Arnold Anderson, before publication.[17] He stated in the volume that
- "it has been my practice to offer no more than the basic essentials of photographs, transliteration, translation of non-biblical passages where this might serve some useful interpretative purpose, and the minimum of textual notes."[20]
John Strugnell published a severe critique of the volume, "Notes en Marge du volume V des 'Discoveries in the Judean Desert of Jordan'" in Revue de Qumran. Allegro's minimalist approach has received widespread scorn in the scholarly world, which nevertheless had the opportunity to analyse the Allegro texts for decades while waiting for other editors to publish their allotments. The first part of Strugnell's allotment was published in 1994.[21]
Change of direction
As early as 1956 Allegro held controversial views regarding the content of the scrolls, stating in a letter to de Vaux, "It's a pity that you and your friends cannot conceive of anything written about Christianity without trying to grind some ecclesiastical or non-ecclesiastical axe." The bulk of his work on the Dead Sea Scrolls was done by 1960 and he was at odds with his scrolls colleagues. When a conflict broke out with H.H. Rowley concerning Allegro's interpretation of the scrolls,
The Sacred Mushroom and Christian Myth
Allegro's book
Allegro argued that Jesus in the
Allegro's theory of a shamanistic cult as the origin of Christianity was criticised sharply by Welsh historian Philip Jenkins who wrote that Allegro was an eccentric scholar who relied on texts that did not exist in quite the form he was citing them. Jenkins called the Sacred Mushroom and the Cross "possibly the single most ludicrous book on Jesus scholarship by a qualified academic".[32] Based on the reactions to the book, Allegro's publisher later apologized for issuing the book and Allegro was forced to resign his academic post.[25][30] A 2006 article by Michael Hoffman discussing Allegro's work called for his theories to be re-evaluated by the mainstream.[33] In November 2009 The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross was reprinted in a 40th anniversary edition with a 30-page addendum by Carl Ruck of Boston University.[34]
Personal life and death
Allegro married Joan Lawrence in 1948, by whom he had a son and a daughter.
Works
Among Allegro's works are the following:
- J.M. Allegro (1956). The Dead Sea Scrolls. Harmondsworth: Pelican.
- J.M. Allegro (1958). The People of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co.
- J.M. Allegro (1960). The Treasure of the Copper Scroll. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co.
- J.M. Allegro (1964). Search in the Desert. Garden City NY: Doubleday & Co.
- J.M. Allegro (1965). The Shapira Affair. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co.
- J.M. Allegro (1968). Discoveries in the Judaean Desert of Jordan V: 4Q158–4Q186. Oxford.
- J.M. Allegro (1970). The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross. London: Hodder and Stoughton Ltd.
- J.M. Allegro (1970). The End of a Road. London: Macgibbon and Kee.
- J.M. Allegro (1971). The Chosen People. London: Hodder and Stoughton Ltd.
- J.M. Allegro (1977). Lost Gods (Dutch "Verdwenen goden"). Baarn, NL: H. Meulenhoff. ISBN 9022402525.
- J.M. Allegro (1979). ISBN 0879752416.
- J.M. Allegro (1982). All Manner of Men. Springfield, IL: Charles Thomas.
- J.M. Allegro (1985). Physician, Heal Thyself. Amherst, United States: Prometheus Books. ISBN 9780879753054.
His scholarly journal articles include:
- J.M. Allegro (1956). "Further Messianic References in Qumran Literature". Journal of Biblical Literature. 75 (3): 174–187. JSTOR 3261919.
- J.M. Allegro (1956). "More Unpublished Pieces of a Qumran Commentary on Nahum [4Q pNah]". Journal of Biblical Literature. 75: 304–308.
- J.M. Allegro (1958). "More Isaiah Commentaries from Qumran's Fourth Cave". Journal of Biblical Literature. 77 (3): 215–221. JSTOR 3264101.
- J.M. Allegro (1958). "Fragments of a Qumran Scroll of Eschatological Midrashim". Journal of Biblical Literature. 77 (4): 350–354. JSTOR 3264674.
- J.M. Allegro (1962). "Further Light on the History of the Qumran Sect". Journal of Semitic Studies. 7: 304–308. .
An undated play 'The Lively Oracles' (with Roy Plomley).
See also
References
- ISBN 978-9004175815.
- ^ ISBN 978-1439222423.
- ^ ISBN 0-905649-38-9.
- ISBN 978-9004175815.
- ^ ISBN 0826460550.
- ^ From the back cover, J.M. Allegro (1956). The Dead Sea Scrolls. Harmondsworth: Pelican.
- ISBN 978-9004208063.
- ISBN 9789004185050.
- ^ ISBN 978-9004208063.
- ^ Norman Golb (1995). Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls. New York: Touchstone. p. 164.
- ISBN 056708468X, also in Time, Volume 67, Issue 6 (6 February 1956), article entitled "Religion: Crucifixion Before Christ" [1]
- ISBN 978-0879753320
- ISBN 0826460550.
- ISBN 0802828493.
- ISBN 0802828493.
- ^ John Marco Allegro (1960). The Treasure of the Copper Scroll. New York: Doubleday & Co. p. 6.
- ^ ISBN 0195137965.
- ^ ISBN 978-9004208063.
- ISBN 0802828493.
- ISBN 0802828493.
- ^ "Discoveries in the Judaean Desert: X". Orion Center. Retrieved 15 April 2013.
- ISBN 0802828493.
- ISBN 978-0-9825562-7-6
- ISBN 978-0-879-75757-1
- ^ ISBN 056708468XT&T Clark pp. 323-325
- ISBN 019955448XOxford University Press p. 305
- ISBN 0-8028-4368-9p. 77
- ^ Hall, Mark. "Foreword," in Allegro, John M. The Dead Sea Scrolls & the Christian Myth. Prometheus 1992, first published 1979, p. ix.
- ^ ISBN 056708468XT&T Clark pp. 323–325
- ^ ISBN 0786423560page 82
- ^ Sidnie White Crawford (2006). "Review of Judith Anne Brown, John Marco Allegro: The Maverick of the Dead Sea Scrolls". Catholic Biblical Quarterly. 68 (4): 725.
- ^ Jenkins, Philip. Hidden Gospels. Oxford University Press, 2002, p. 180.
- ^ Hoffman, Michael., ed. by Dr. Robert Price., "Wasson and Allegro on the Tree of Knowledge as Amanita" in Journal of Higher Criticism, 2006. Archived 14 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ISBN 978-0-9825562-7-6
- ^ Sidnie White Crawford (2006). "Review of Judith Anne Brown, John Marco Allegro: The Maverick of the Dead Sea Scrolls". Catholic Biblical Quarterly. 68 (4): 726.
- ^ "Hugh Massingberd, 60, Laureate for the Departed, Dies", New York Times, 30 December 2007
Further reading
- Judith Anne Brown: John Marco Allegro: The Maverick of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans 2005.
External links
- The Official website of John Marco Allegro
- John Marco Allegro and the Christian Myth by Judith Anne Brown
- Obituary: Skeptic Tank Text Archive File
- John Marco Allegro entry in historical sourcebook by Mahlon H. Smith