Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

12-1999

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Psychology

Major Professor

Howard R. Pollio

Committee Members

Ralph W. Hood Jr., Jack E. Reese, Ronald E. Hopson

Abstract

An interesting practice among certain Holiness-Pentecostal sects of Appalachia is the religious taking up of venomous serpents in obedience to a perceived mandate of scripture-Mark 16:17-18. The purpose of the present study was to describe the first person experience of this practice through use of a phenomenological method involving dialogic interviews and hermeneutic interpretation. In the course of this investigation, 17 participants, 5 of them women, were engaged in open-ended dialogue in which they described various personal experiences of handling poisonous serpents. From a hermeneutic analysis of the transcribed texts, a consistent pattern of four major themes emerged to characterize the awareness of meaning attached to the experience by all participants. These interdependent themes and subthemes are as follows:I. "Wanting to Do" (the Word of God)II. "Death"III. Connection with God (on the basis of):A. "Faith"B. "Anointing" ("God Moving on Me")IV. "Fear'/'Victory"These findings were discussed with respect to the previous literature on religious serpent handling in terms of providing a more complete understanding of the practice.

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