Front cover image for Handling serpents : Pastor Jimmy Morrow's narrative history of his Appalachian Jesus' Name tradition

Handling serpents : Pastor Jimmy Morrow's narrative history of his Appalachian Jesus' Name tradition

"Jimmy Morrow, a pastor and serpent handler for over a quarter of a century, explores the history of serpent handling from a variety of sources, including his extensive familiarity with families whose roots are deep in Appalachia. As a native Appalachian, Jimmy has access to histories unavailable to outsiders. While not formally trained as a historian, Jimmy's own narrative of the Jesus' Name tradition is a unique contribution to not only Appalachian studies but to the history of what many have prematurely thought to be a tradition whose obituary is soon to be written." "Jimmy's astounding photographs and his keen insight into the power of this tradition that he proudly upholds suggests that, while unlikely ever to be a dominant form of religious expression, it will continue as perhaps America's most unique form of religion that persists in Appalachia despite laws against the practice of handling serpents." "This is an extraordinary personal account of a unique form of religious devotion and dedication. It will be of interest to anyone interested in Appalachian culture or religion in the South."--BOOK JACKET
Print Book, English, 2005
1st ed
Mercer University Press, Macon, Ga., 2005
History
210 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm
9780865548480, 086554848X
57641182
Foreword
Preface: How I Came to Believe in Serpent Handling
Chapter 1: The Doctrine of Jesus and the Prophetess Nancy Younger Klenieck
Chapter 2: George Hensley and the Notoriety of Serpent Handling
Chapter 3: The Jesus' Name Churches Organize and Grow
Chapter 4: Serpent Handling Comes to Grasshopper Valley
Chapter 5: Jesus' Name Handlers in Cocke County, Tennessee
Chapter 6: Jesus' Name Handlers in Newport, Tennessee
Chapter 7: The Death of Charles Prince in Greensville, Tennessee
Chapter 8: The Death by Serpent Bite of George Hensley and Other Jesus' NameBelievers
Chapter 9: Brother Colonel Harman Bunn and the Zion Tabernacle
Chapter 10: TheBite of a Young Man at The Sand Hill Church of God in Jesus' Name
Chapter 11: The Holiness Church of God in Jesus' Name
Chapter 12: Trouble in the Churches: More Deaths and Bites
Chapter 13: The Del Rio and Edwina Churches of God in Jesus Christ's Name
Chapter 14: The Death of Jimmy Ray Williams Jr
Chapter 15: The Death of Punkin Brown and the Battle for Custody of his Children
Chapter 16: God Grants Me a Vision of Hell and the Power to Preach the Word
Chapter 17: The Family Tree of Jimmy Morrow
Chapter 18: The Family Tree of Pam Morrow
Includes indexes