Editing Amanita muscaria (section)

===== Christianity =====
[[File:A detail from part of an early 4th century AD mosaic depicting a basket of mushrooms belonging to the floor of the Theodorian transversal hall, Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta, Aquileia, Italy (21409510664).jpg|thumb|[[Mosaic]] of red mushrooms, found in the Christian [[Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta, Aquileia|Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta]], in [[Aquileia]], northern Italy, dating to before 330 CE]]
Philologist, archaeologist, and [[Dead Sea Scrolls]] scholar [[John Marco Allegro]] postulated that early Christian [[theology]] was derived from a fertility cult revolving around the [[entheogen]]ic consumption of ''A. muscaria'' in his 1970 book ''[[The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross]].''<ref>
{{cite book | author = Allegro, J. | year = 1970 | title = The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross: A Study of the Nature and Origins of Roman Theology within the Fertility Cults of the Ancient Near East | publisher = Hodder & Stoughton | location = London| isbn = 978-0-340-12875-6}}</ref> This theory has found little support by scholars outside the field of [[ethnomycology]]. The book was widely criticized by academics and theologians, including [[Godfrey Rolles Driver|Sir Godfrey Driver]], emeritus Professor of Semitic Philology at [[Oxford University]] and [[Henry Chadwick (theologian)|Henry Chadwick]], the Dean of [[Christ Church, Oxford]].{{sfn|Letcher|2006|p=160}} 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 were 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.<ref>{{cite book|author=King, J. C. |title=A Christian View of the Mushroom Myth|publisher=Hodder & Stoughton|location=London|year=1970|isbn=978-0-340-12597-7}}{{pn|date=December 2024}}</ref>{{sfn|Letcher|2006|p=161}}