PASSINGS : John Allegro, 65; Helped Decipher Scrolls

John Allegro, 65, renowned for his work in deciphering the Dead Sea Scrolls. He was a student of Semitic languages at Manchester University and went on to study Hebrew dialects at Oxford University. In 1953, he was named to an international team formed to decipher the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were discovered in caves at Qumran on the shores of the Dead Sea six years earlier. The scrolls, which spanned from about 100 BC to AD 70, included the oldest known manuscripts of books from the Old Testament. His book, “The Dead Sea Scrolls,” was published in 1956 and became a best seller. Allegro wrote another book, “The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross,” which brought him derision from the scientific community. He contended that Judaism and Christianity were in fact products of an ancient sex-and-mushroom cult. He theorized that Jesus’ last words on the cross were not a lament to God but “a paean of praise to the god of the mushroom.” Although trained for the Methodist ministry, he became a fervent anti-Christian devoted to debunking the story of Jesus. In London on Wednesday.