Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The serpent-handling religions of west Virginia

In surprising ways, the personalities of the serpenthandlers differed from those of members of a conventional church

  • Published:
Trans-action Aims and scope Submit manuscript

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Further reading suggested by the author

  • They Shall Take Up Serpents by Weston LaBarre (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1962). A psychological interpretation of serpent-handling and its history.

    Google Scholar 

  • “Ordeal by Serpents, Fire and Strychnine” by Berthold Schwarz,Psychiatric Quarterly, 1960, 405–429. The author personally observed more than 200 instances of serpent-handling.

  • The Small Sects in America by Elmert T. Clark (New York: Abingdon Press, 1959). An excellent account of the holiness movement, of which the serpent-handling sect is an offshoot.

    Google Scholar 

  • Life and Religion in Southern Appalachia by W. D. Weatherford and Earl D. C. Brewer (New York: Friendship Press, 1962). The role of religion in the life of the rural poor in Appalachia.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Morris Harvey College, USA

    Nathan L. Gerrard (Professor and chairman of the Department of Sociology)

Authors
  1. Nathan L. Gerrard
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Gerrard, N.L. The serpent-handling religions of west Virginia. Trans-action 5, 22–28 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02818923

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02818923

Keywords

Search

Navigation