Author DENNIS COVINGTON
Publisher DA CAPO PRESS
First published in 1993 this is a book about the snake handling churches of Southern Appalachia. It was a finalist for the National Book Award of that year, quite amazingly, some would think. Why would such a book receive such acclaim? A good question I would say. The author is a journalist who during his childhood in Birmingham Alabama had a certain fascination for snakes and frequently caught and handled them in the drains and waste grounds in his area. When a snake-handling preacher was being tried for the attempted murder of his wife through forcing her to handle rattlesnakes Covington was instructed to cover the trial and this led to his own personal involvement in the coterie of people and churches involved in this unusual and bizarre behavior. In a way this book is a mixture of journalism and personal testimony. The author obviously found friendship among the various pastors and preachers and their wives, something genuine and real and this piqued his interest and stirred feelings long dormant in his life.
However, in time he withdrew and he does not mention the reasons why he did so. There is instruction to be found in this book, especially for Christian readers from charismatic church backgrounds. Why would sincere Christians get hooked on something with little or no scriptural warrant and make it the measure of God’s power at work? There is warning here, it is no surprise that Covington reports other ‘phenomena’ taking place at some of the gatherings, animal noises, falling ‘under the power’ and alas, the apparent vagueness as to what really constitutes Christian holiness that often follows where outward ‘spiritual’ manifestations are accorded priority over moral purity. Obsession with some outward apparently fantastic phenomena and discrimination between male and female along with strict dress codes (especially for the women) and with what is scripturally incidental is not unusual in some Charismatic circles.
Where this leads is evident in the history recorded here. A close knit, often loving but isolated community with little relevance to the world around about is the result. We can readily begin to see how easily some TV evangelists got hooked on a single verse of scripture such as the cloth’s taken from Paul’s body that led to the healing of some becoming systematized into a technique in the 20th century and present with us still, or the measuring of the so called power of the Holy Spirit at work through a ‘man of God’ because people fall to the floor when he touches them. This book will perplex some readers, the very idea of a man preaching with several dangerous snakes draped around his body or balanced on his head seems to be a bizarre development based upon a dubious interpretation of a scripture found in a part of Mark’s gospel that itself is questionable as to whether it was contained in the original manuscripts. May the Lord help us to be lovers of His truth and rightly discern.
