Contents

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Illustrations ix
4. Tables xi
5. Preface xiii
6. 1. “They Shall Take up Serpents” 1
7. 2. The History of Pentecostalism Absent the Serpent 13
8. 3. The Media and the Man: George Went Hensley 37
9. 4. Serpent Handling Endorsed by the Church of God 52
10. 5. The Serpent: Sign and Symbol 79
11. 6. Trance States: Tongues Speaking and the Anointing 102
12. 7. Extemporaneous Sermons in the Serpent-Handling Tradition 117
13. 8. The Experience of Handling Serpents 132
14. 9. The Experience of the Anointing 157
15. 10. Near-Death Experience from Serpent Bites in Religious Settings 170
16. 11. Music among Serpent-Handling Churches 185
17. 12. Serpent Handling and the Law: History and Empirical Studies 208
18. Epilogue 227
19. Appendix 1. Deaths by Serpent Bite 239
20. Appendix 2. Deaths by Poison 246
21. Appendix 3. The Phenomenological Interview and Hermeneutic Techniques of Interpretation 247
22. Notes 257
23. References 267
24. Acknowledgments 285
25. Index 289