In some remote churches in East Tennessee and nearby states, Jesus' words in the sixteenth chapter of Saint Mark are taken literally: and they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them. Members of these churches describe themselves as Pentecostal-Holiness, autonomous groups of Christians with strong traditional religious views and a fundamentalist approach to biblical interpretation. Their strong faith is based largely on personal experience. Handling serpents and fire, laying on the hands of healing, speaking in tongues, and drinking poison are seen...
In some remote churches in East Tennessee and nearby states, Jesus' words in the sixteenth chapter of Saint Mark are taken literally: and they shall t...
A snake handler convicted of the attempted murder of his wife by means of serpent bite is serving ninety-nine years in prison. The reader is gradually pulled into an increasingly complex story as Thomas Burton allows the many individuals involved in this event to tell their stories. Readers are less likely to find themselves concerned with what really happened than with larger issues they too will become involved in. this is more than a story about the headline preacher tries to murder wife with rattlesnakes it is a story of individuals struggling with their faith and their fate under...
A snake handler convicted of the attempted murder of his wife by means of serpent bite is serving ninety-nine years in prison. The reader is gradu...
