The Professor Christopher David Story
Christopher David was born in 1942 in Long Beach California. He took an early interest in music, especially the rhythm and blues that was emerging in the early fifties. As David remembers, “When I was a kid, R & B was a radical sound. And our parents didn’t like it, which made it all the more cool. I started listening to a black station that was playing songs by the Chords, the Flamingos, the Platters, and other artists you couldn’t hear anywhere else.”
In high school David sang in a doo-wop band called the Nighthawks. “We patterned ourselves after the Penguins, who were the big popular doo-wop band in LA.” David continued his musical career while attending UCLA. During his undergrad years as a history major, David took an interest in the local surf music craze that was so popular in Southern California. “There were dozens of bands, and they played everywhere,” David recalls. “I liked the Challengers, and got a kick out of the Pyramids, who were pretty outrageous for their time. I even remember the Crossfires before they became what many would later know as the Turtles. Of course, Dick Dale was the king of it all.” Christopher David went so far as to learn the electric guitar, but never succeeded as a musician. The Nighthawks had disbanded by 1964, and Christopher David graduated, almost by default from UCLA with his degree in history.
Tiring of the California culture, David went east to pursue his master’s degree at Yale. He also expanded his academic interests. David took up philosophy and studied for awhile at the Yale School of Divinity. “I couldn’t make it in music. Academics seemed like the only thing I was good at,” David explains.
In 1965 Christopher David answered an ad from a research group in search of theology students. The Harvard Department of Psychology was looking for volunteers to participate in a government funded experiment . David and nine other students were chosen. One of the professors running the experiment was none other than Timothy Leary, then a Harvard professor of clinical psychology. “I’d read about Timothy Leary and his LSD experiments,” David remembers, “but I didn’t have any idea of what I was going to be in for.” The rest, of course is counter-culture history. Christopher David’s encounter with Leary led to further experimentation with psychedelics. “It turns out we helped pave the way for an entire generation. LSD changed a lot of people. And we were convinced at the time that the change was for the better.”
In 1966 Christopher David received a Master’s degree in theology. At that time he also took up an interest in archeology and ancient literature. David was particularly fascinated with the religious literature of biblical times. David had the good fortune and opportunity to take advantage of the research facilities of the Yale University Peabody Museum of Natural History.
It was also 1966 that marked the beginning of the end for Professor David’s short career as a Yale professor. A discovery of Greek scrolls found in the Catskills Forest Preserve thrust Christopher David into a turbulent controversy. Based on subsequent translations of the scrolls, along with additional historical research, Professor David concluded that there was a thirteenth Apostles previously unknown to biblical writing. David’s conclusion was met with such disbelief from Yale’s academic staff that David’s reputation was damaged beyond repair.
A Yale professor close to Christopher David reported: “I know he was taking LSD with Tim Leary and some of those theology students. He once told me that the [LSD] experience was uniquely religious. I also know that he continued to take LSD on many other occasions. Probably marijuana too. I wasn’t the only one who thought drugs might have sent him over the edge.”
David relocated to northern California in 1967, traveling frequently between San Francisco and the Big Sur coast. At the same time he began a new career as a freelance journalist and writer. David’s early works could be seen in some of the west coast alternative publications like Ramparts, Berkley Barb, San Francisco Oracle, and Rolling Stone. “Sometimes we even got paid,” David once joked. “It was a new avenue for a new breed of writers,” says David. “I read with keen interest the works of Ralph Gleason, and Hunter S. Thompson. I learned the formula quickly. It was easy to sell anything that was anti-establishment, especially when it had liberal portions of hip counter-culture references and occasional profanity. It seemed so cutting-edge at the time.”
Professor David’s writing eventually achieved a level of more conventional respectability. His background in history and ancient literature allowed him to pursue more academically related work. He began to write articles for National Geographic, Reader’s Digest, Bible Review and Smithsonian Magazine. Additionally David received critical acclaim for his work on the award-winning PBS documentary “The Religions of the Roman Empire.”
In 1975, Christopher David revived his research project of the Catskill Scrolls. The result was his first book, The Book of Murray, the Complete Story of the Thirteenth Apostle. The book can still be found occasionally in alternative and used book stores. David has considered another book project: An historically based analysis of the occult, UFO phenomena, and the paranormal. “My working title is Nazis from Outer Space. As of yet, no publishers have expressed an interest. I don’t know why. The Celestine Prophesies was such a big hit, I don’t see why this can’t be as well.”
Professor Christopher David continues to work as a freelance writer, editor, and research consultant. His latest ambition is to publish a comprehensive chronicle of 20th century pop culture. “The story has never been properly or accurately told,” David claims. “Much of our knowledge of recent history is based on what we absorb from magazines, newspapers, television and movies. I think it’s time to re-examine and reevaluate contemporary culture without all the media hype. “To paraphrase Ben Franklin,” Professor David says, “Believe little of what you hear. And of what you read, even less.”