 Philologist , archeologist , and Dead Sea Scrolls scholar John Marco Allegro postulated that early Christian theology was derived from a fertility cult revolving around the entheogenic consumption of A. muscaria in his 1970 book The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross , but his theory has found little support by scholars outside the field of ethnomycology . The book was roundly discredited by academics and theologians , including Sir Godfrey Driver , Emeritus Professor of Semitic Philology at Oxford University , and Henry Chadwick , the Dean of Christ Church , Oxford . Christian author John C. King wrote a detailed rebuttal of Allegro 's theory in the 1970 book A Christian View of the Mushroom Myth ; he notes that neither fly agarics nor their host trees are found in the Middle East , even though cedars and pines are found there , and highlights the tenuous nature of the links between biblical and Sumerian names coined by Allegro . He concludes that if the theory was true , the use of the mushroom must have been " the best kept secret in the world " as it was so well concealed for two thousand years . 
 Philologist , archeologist , and Dead Sea Scrolls scholar John Marco Allegro postulated that early Christian theology was derived from a fertility cult revolving around the entheogenic consumption of A. muscaria in his 1970 book The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross , but his theory <a href='been_done' title='1'><mark>has</mark></a> found little support by scholars outside the field of ethnomycology . The book was roundly discredited by academics and theologians , including Sir Godfrey Driver , Emeritus Professor of Semitic Philology at Oxford University , and Henry Chadwick , the Dean of Christ Church , Oxford . Christian author John C. King wrote a detailed rebuttal of Allegro <a href='null_genetive' title='2'><mark>'s</mark></a>theory in the 1970 book A Christian View of the Mushroom Myth ; he <a href='uninflect' title='3'><mark>notes</mark></a> that neither fly agarics nor their host trees are found in the Middle East , even though cedars and pines are found there , and <a href='uninflect' title='4'><mark>highlights</mark></a> the tenuous nature of the links between biblical and Sumerian names coined by Allegro . He <a href='uninflect' title='5'><mark>concludes</mark></a> that if the theory was true , the use of the mushroom must have been " the best kept secret in the world " as it was so well concealed for two thousand years . 
Philologist , archeologist , and Dead Sea Scrolls scholar John Marco Allegro postulated dat early Christian theology was derived from a fertility cult revolving around da entheogenic consumption of A. muscaria in his 1970 book The Sacred Mushroom and tdaCross , but his theory done found little support by scholars outside the field of ethnomycology . Thdaook was roundly discredited by academics and theologians , including Sir Godfrey Driver , Emeritus Professor of Semitic Philology at Oxford University , and Henry Chadwick , thedaan of Christ Church , Oxford . Christian author John C. King wrote a detailed rebuttal of Allegro  theory in the da0 book A Christian View of the Mdaroom Myth ; he note that neither fly agarics nor their host trees r found in the Middle East , even though cedars and pines are found dere , and highlight the tenuous nature of the links between biblical and Sumerian names coined by Allegro . He conclude that if the theory was true , the use of the mushroom must have been " the best kept secret in the world " as it was so well concealed fir two thousand years .