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Salvation on Sand Mountain
Dennis Covington |
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Reviews of Salvation on Sand Mountain. |
Library Journal: Fascinated by the religious practice of snake
handling, the author, a novelist and writing instuctor at the University
of Alabama, relates his association with the Church of Jesus with Signs
Following in Scottsboro, Alabama. Working for the New York Times,
Covington covered the trial of the church's preacher, who was convicted
of attempting to murder his wife with rattlesnakes. Upon discovering this
remnant of distinctive Southern culture, the author continues his
journalist's involvement with the church, which develops into a personal
spiritual journey. Awed by the faith and daring of the followers, he
becomes a participant in their peculiar rituals. Although the author's
observations and insights are interesting, this book is only marginally
informative. For a more complete study, see Thomas Burton's
Serpent-Handling Believers (LJ 3/15/93).--Eloise R. Hitchcock,
Tennessee Technological Univ. Lib., Cookeville
Lee K. Abbott in The New York Times Book Review:
The author is on a journey both literal and metaphysical, not through a
South "straight out of the movies" . . . but into a holiness wonderland
populated by descendants of fierce Scots-Irish immigrants, whose only
defense against "the bitter reality of an industrialized and secularized
society" is the shouting of Scripture and the holding of an arm to the
wicked flame of a blowtorch. . . . At every wayside along Mr. Covington's
journey are the snakes--those thick, heavy and nasty-tempered beasts
taken up by the anointed, the men and women blessed by ecstasy from the
Holy Ghost. "Christianity without passion, danger and mystery may not
really be Christianity at all," Mr. Covington reminds us. . . . The
lessons and insights of [this book] may seem creepy to those who prefer
their Jesus to be a "mild-mannered esthete with shampooed hair." Still,
it is a book of revelation--brilliant, dire and full of grace.
Publisher's Weekly:
After Covington, a writing instructor at the University of Alabama,
novelist (Lizard) and freelance journalist, covered the trial of
a preacher convicted of attempting to murder his wife with rattlesnakes,
he was invited to attend a snake-handling service in Scottsville, Ala.
He found the service exhilarating and unsettling; he felt a kinship with
the people, for he was only two generations removed from the hill country
of Appalachia. Of Scottish-Irish descent, the handlers are religious
mystics who believe in demons, drink strychnine and drape rattlesnakes
around their bodies. Covington attended other services with Brother Carl
Porter; he eventually handled a huge rattlesnake, and recalls that at the
time, he felt absolutely no fear. This is a captivating glimpse of an
exotic religious sect. (Jan.)
The Reader's Catalog:
A reporter's investigation of a case of attempted murder (by snake) among
fundamentalist Protestants whose services include the handling of
poisonous snakes leads to a spiritual reassessment of his life and to
his own participation in the snake-handling rites.
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