Handling Serpents: Pastor Jimmy Morrow's Narrative History of His Appalachian Jesus' Name Tradition [Paperback]

Jimmy Morrow (Author), Ralph W. Jr. Hood (Editor)

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Mercer University Press; 1st edition (March 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 086554848X
• ISBN-13: 978-0865548480
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #688,143 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!, May 2, 2007

By 

Stephen P. Sparks - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Handling Serpents: Pastor Jimmy Morrow's Narrative History of His Appalachian Jesus' Name Tradition (Paperback)

This a great book on serpent ahndling and its History.Pastor morrow takes the history before George hensley which most historians on serpent handling stop with him.This a a great Book and i highly recommentd it.
steve [...].

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and tempting, at times!!, October 29, 2007

By 

I. Pantelidis "FuRuBuRuNuDu" (HELLAS (GREECE)) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Handling Serpents: Pastor Jimmy Morrow's Narrative History of His Appalachian Jesus' Name Tradition (Paperback)

This book contains a lot of information, historical facts and narratives from people that have lived through most of their lives with the serpent handling tradition. I find it a fascinating book, with a lot of information (especially to those researching church history), written with passion and warm feelings by the author.

However, I find the typing mistakes disappointing, syntax and grammatical errors, that make it tiring for someone to read through paragraphs, at times. I'd prefer more "order" in the stories of the book, so that you'd not have to flip pages to understand-link the persons and stories with the ones you're reading about at that particular time.

I remember what the editor, R.W.Hood, said about editing this book. That it was not his job to criticize or anything like that, but to try and compile all these notes and scraps of newspapers into a story, as much as possible. Even with these minor "flaws", mentioned above, I still admire his work.

I recommend this book, to anyone interested in learning about the tradition from someone who is living inside it, and, naturally, recommend *caution* should you get the temptation of handling serpents yourself, unless you're fully prepared for a full-blown experience, of life or death!!

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One God, One Son, One Holy Spirit, numerous Bibles, many sects and practices!, June 25, 2005

By 

One Tree in the Forest (Del Rio, Tennessee, USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Handling Serpents: Pastor Jimmy Morrow's Narrative History of His Appalachian Jesus' Name Tradition (Paperback)

This book is fascinating-very, very fascinating. I live in Del Rio, Tennessee, and am well aware that "snake handling" exists. However, since it is not a subject of idle discussion, I knew very little about its history and its continuing adherents and practices. I was excited when my librarian showed me the newly arrived book. I had it shipped to me from Amazon immediately--to add to my collection of books about Cocke County, Tennessee, and its various communities. I am sad that the practice is outlawed. I feel if a person, through their sincere religious belielf (and who is an adult, and can advisedly choose to do so), chooses this practice, that under our country's constitutional guarantee of freedom of and from religion, that they should be allowed to do as they wish. I see the practice as part of a belief system that is no stranger than belief systems and practices of many other religions around the world. This book is a very valuable source of information about a very minority religious belief and practice, and belongs in the library of anyone who studies religion. Thank you Jimmy Morrow for bravely sharing this information at your own personal risk of arrest at one of your church(es) services!

HOWEVER, I thought an editor's job was to prepare text for publication. This book has endless disconcerting and distracting sentence fragments, singular words when plurals are needed, and grammatical failures of every description. Even person's names will be spelled differently from one paragraph to the next. I used to make part of my living as a typesetter, and if I'd received a manuscript in this condition, I would have called the "author," and asked a lot of questions. If the editor typed it himself (or used a typesetter or typist), then he could have made great use of a proofreader! It is sad to have some much detailed and fascinating information delivered in such a constantly muddled format! If not for that, this would definitely be a FIVE STAR BOOK.