Was Jesus of Nazareth a real historical person or a fictional character in a religious legend? What do the Dead Sea Scrolls reveal about the origins of Xianity? Has there been a conspiracy to suppress information in the Scrolls that contradicts traditional church teaching? Allegro addresses these & many other intriguing questions in this fascinating account of what may be the most significant archeological discovery of the 20th century. As one of the original scholars entrusted with the task of deciphering these ancient documents, he worked on some of the most important texts, including the Biblical commentaries. In '61, King Hussein of Jordan appointed him to be honorary advisor to the Jordanian government on the Scrolls. In his engagingly readable style, he conveys the excitement of the initial archeological find & takes readers on a journey of intellectual discovery that goes to the heart of Western culture. He suggests that Xianity evolved out of the Messianic theology of the Essenes, the Jewish sect that wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls. This new edition also contains an essay in which he describes the in-fighting among the scholars assigned to study them & his 30-year battle to release all of the texts to the public. He was one of the 1st scholars to protest the long delay in publishing the Scrolls & to criticise his colleagues for their secretive & possessive attitudes. This issue has recently been the focus of national media coverage, with the result that after 40 years, open access to the Scrolls has finally been permitted. If he'd lived to see it, he'd have been very pleased by this resolution of the controversy.