Sunday, March 10, 2013

Salvation on Sand Mountain

Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake-Handling and Redemption in Southern AppalachiaSalvation on Sand Mountain: Snake-Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia by Dennis Covington

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


As a child in a fundamentalist, independent Baptist church in West Virginia, snake handling churches were given as a cautionary tale about misinterpreting the Word of God and worship being too theatrical. (At the other end of the Continuum of Batshit was the Catholic church, for their pomp and circumstance, idols, Mary worship, and infant baptism.) So, I was very curious about this inside look at the snake handling culture. And what an inside look it was -- Covington became almost a de facto member of the community, and indeed handled snakes himself during worship services. Nonetheless, he remained seemingly objective about the foibles of his subjects, although that may have been a result of writing retrospectively after those ties were broken. Worth the read if you're interested in the Protestant sects of the U.S.



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