Snakes at the Altar

This is the tale of how bad hermeneutics leads to bad practices in the church. This book details the practice of serpent handling in the Church of God (Cleveland, TN) from 1912 through 1934. Church of God evangelists traveled from north to south, and east to west, carrying the message that signs follow believers and one of those signs is handling snakes. Zealous followers of the Pentecostal message heard, believed, and enthusiastically took up serpents. Even with its significant supporters, the practice was controversial and eventually ended as a second generation of Church of God leaders rejected the practice. This book tells the story using original sources and periodicals in which the voices of proponents and opponents of the serpent handling movement can be heard. The final chapter offers reflections on the theological and hermeneutical implications of the story.