Limit search to available items
Book Cover
E-book
Author Hood, Ralph W., Jr., 1942-

Title Them that believe : the power and meaning of the Christian serpent-handling tradition / Ralph W. Hood, Jr., W. Paul Williamson
Published Berkeley : University of California Press, ©2008

Copies

Description 1 online resource (xvi, 301 pages, 6 unnumbered pages of plates) : illustrations
Contents "They shall take up serpents" -- The history of Pentecostalism absent the serpent -- The media and the man : George Went Hensley -- Serpent handling endorsed by the Church of God -- The serpent : sign and symbol -- Trance states : tongues speaking and the anointing -- Extemporaneous sermons in the serpent-handling tradition -- The experience of handling serpents -- The experience of the anointing -- Near-death experience from serpent bites in religious settings -- Music among serpent-handling churches -- Serpent handling and the law : history and empirical studies
Summary Explores the religious practice of serpent handling in churches of Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, and West Virginia. This book provides an analysis of this phenomenon from historical, social, religious, and psychological perspectives. It deals with the near-death experiences of individuals who were bitten but survived
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 267-284) and index
Notes In English
Print version record
Subject Snake cults (Holiness churches)
Serpents -- Religious aspects -- Christianity.
RELIGION -- Messianic Judaism.
RELIGION -- Christianity -- General.
Serpents -- Religious aspects -- Christianity
Snake cults (Holiness churches)
Form Electronic book
Author Williamson, W. Paul (William Paul)
ISBN 9780520942714
052094271X
0520255879
0520231473
9780520231474
9780520255876
1282360809
9781282360808
9786612360800
6612360801