0
Your cart

Your cart is empty

Books > Language & Literature

Buy Now

In the House of the Serpent Handler - A Story of Faith and Fleeting Fame in the Age of Social Media (Paperback) Loot Price: R557
Discovery Miles 5 570
You Save: R57 (9%)
In the House of the Serpent Handler - A Story of Faith and Fleeting Fame in the Age of Social Media (Paperback): Julia C. Duin

In the House of the Serpent Handler - A Story of Faith and Fleeting Fame in the Age of Social Media (Paperback)

Julia C. Duin

 (sign in to rate)
List price R614 Loot Price R557 Discovery Miles 5 570 You Save R57 (9%)

Bookmark and Share

Expected to ship within 10 - 15 working days

Offers an intimate and engrossing look at the latest generation of Pentecostal believers who “take up” venomous snakes as a test of their religious faith. Focusing on several preachers and their families in six Appalachian states, journalist Julia C. Duin explores the impact that such twenty-first-century phenomena as social media and “reality television” have had on rituals long practiced in obscurity. As Duin reveals, the mortal snakebite suffered by pastor Mack Wofford in 2012 marked the passing of the torch to younger preachers Jamie Coots and Andrew Hamblin, who were featured in the 2013 series Snake Salvation on the National Geographic Channel. Seeing their participation in the show as a way of publicizing their faith and thus winning converts, Coots and Hamblin attempted to reinvent the snake-handling tradition for a modern audience. The use of the internet, particularly Facebook, became another key part of their strategy to spread their particular brand of Christianity. However, Coots’s own death in 2014 was widely reported after the TV series was canceled, while Hamblin, who emerges as the central figure in the book, was arrested and tried after a shooting incident involving his estranged wife. His hopes of becoming a serpent-handling superstar seemingly dashed, Hamblin spent several months in prison, emerging more determined than ever to keep to the faith. By the end of the narrative, he has begun a new church where he can pass on the tradition to yet another generation. Duin’s thorough, sympathetic reporting and lively style bring the ecstatic church services she witnessed vividly to life, and through interviews and quotations from the principals’ Facebook postings, she has allowed them to express their beliefs and reveal their everyday lives in their own words. She also gives the reader an up-close view of how a reporter pursues a story and the various difficulties encountered along the way. These engrossing elements add up to a unique story of the ways in which the practitioners of a century-old custom—one that strikes most outsiders as bizarre—are adjusting to the challenges of the new millennium.

General

Imprint: University of Tennessee Press
Country of origin: United States
Release date: December 2017
Authors: Julia C. Duin
Dimensions: 229 x 152mm (L x W)
Format: Paperback
Pages: 277
ISBN-13: 978-1-62190-375-8
Categories: Books > Language & Literature > General
Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > General
Books > Religion & Spirituality > General
Promotions
LSN: 1-62190-375-3
Barcode: 9781621903758

Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate? Let us know about it.

Does this product have an incorrect or missing image? Send us a new image.

Is this product missing categories? Add more categories.

Review This Product

No reviews yet - be the first to create one!

You might also like..

Being There - Backstories From The…
Tony Leon Paperback R350 R312 Discovery Miles 3 120
Disciple - Walking With God
Rorisang Thandekiso, Nkhensani Manabe Paperback  (1)
R280 R263 Discovery Miles 2 630
100 Mandela Moments
Kate Sidley Paperback R260 R232 Discovery Miles 2 320
Now You Know How Mapetla Died - The…
Zikhona Valela Paperback R350 R328 Discovery Miles 3 280
Bloed, Dunner as Water - Suid-Afrika se…
Charne Kemp Paperback R350 R328 Discovery Miles 3 280
The Legend Of Zola Mahobe - And The…
Don Lepati, Nikolaos Kirkinis Paperback  (1)
R380 R356 Discovery Miles 3 560
This Is How It Is - True Stories From…
The Life Righting Collective Paperback R265 R245 Discovery Miles 2 450
Albertina Sisulu
Sindiwe Magona, Elinor Sisulu Paperback R159 Discovery Miles 1 590
Blood's Inner Rhyme - An…
Antjie Krog Paperback R360 R299 Discovery Miles 2 990
Killing Karoline - A Memoir
Sara-Jayne King Paperback  (1)
R330 Discovery Miles 3 300
Winged Messenger - Running Your First…
Bruce Fordyce Paperback  (1)
R331 Discovery Miles 3 310
Magda - My Journey
Magda Wierzycka Paperback R350 R323 Discovery Miles 3 230

See more

Partners