Abstract
The ritual of religious serpent handling, among independent Holiness-Pentecostal groups of the southeastern United States, has been often construed by social scientific theories and popular media to be pathological and bizarre. Leaving aside such theoretical presuppositions regarding this practice, this study utilized phenomenological interpretation to analyze a collection of 18 extemporaneous sermons given by serpent handlers during the course of worship services. Interpretation of these transcribed sermons revealed that a pattern of five major themes described the meaning of the phenomenon of serpent handling from the perspective of the serpent handlers themselves. As an embodied event, the taking up of serpents within the context of sacred worship involved the experience of: (1) Being Moved upon by God, (2) a Life/Death Vitality, (3) an Us/Them Specialness, (4) a Power of True Knowing, and (5) Joy Unspeakable. The value of qualitative research in psychological investigations, especially of a first-person perspective, is suggested, and concerns for further research within this religious tradition are noted.
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