Editing Snake handling in Christianity (section)

== History ==
=== Early Christianity ===
==== Gnosticism ====
In the 2nd century the [[Ophites]] reportedly handled snakes during their services,<ref>Joseph Campbell & M. J. Abadie (1981). The Mythic Image. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, p. 296.</ref> and also worshipped the serpent.<ref>Tuomas Rasimus (2007). "The Serpent in Gnostic and Related Texts". In Painchaud, Louis; Poirier, Paul-Hubert (eds.). L'Évangile selon Thomas et les textes de Nag Hammadi: Colloque International. Presses Université Laval, p. 804.</ref>

==== Egyptian monasticism ====
The ''[[Sayings of the Desert Fathers]]'' detail an Egyptian monk named Paul, who was said to be able to hold snakes in his hand and cut them open. The account attributes this ability to a special grace from God.<ref>{{cite web | title=Apophthegmata Patrum: The Greek Alphabetical Collection | website=ldysinger.com | url=http://www.ldysinger.com/@texts/0400_apophth/greek_alph/00a_start.htm | access-date=2025-02-18 | quote=One of the Fathers used to tell of a certain Abba Paul, from Lower Egypt, who lived in the Thebaid. He used to take various kinds of snakes in his hands and cut them through the middle. The brethren made prostration before him saying, 'Tell us what you have done to receive this grace.' He said, 'Forgive me, Fathers, but if someone has obtained purity, everything is in submission to him, as it was to Adam, when he was in Paradise before he transgressed the commandment.'}}</ref>

=== American Christianity ===
The practice of snake handling first appeared in American Christianity around 1910<ref>''Encyclopedia of American Religions'' gives the year as 1909; the ''Encyclopedia of Religion in the South'' gives it as 1913.</ref> and was associated with the ministry of [[George Went Hensley]] of Grasshopper Valley in southeastern [[Tennessee]]. Hensley's role in initiating the practice has been disputed by academic studies.{{sfnp|Kimbrough|2002|p=191}} Kimbrough notes that claims of Hensley being the originator of snake handling are usually found to be unsubstantiated by research, and the origins of the observance are unclear.{{sfnp|Kimbrough|2002|p=191}} Hood and Williamson similarly argue that the beginnings of Pentecostal snake-handling rituals cannot be ascribed to a single person,{{sfnp|Hood and Williamson|2008|p=37}} and that the observance arose independently on multiple occasions.{{sfnp|Hood and Williamson|2008|p=38}}

However, historians agree that Hensley's advocacy, leadership, and particularly his personal charisma, were important factors in advancing the Pentecostal snake handling{{sfnp|Hill, Hood, and Williamson|2005|p=118}} and spreading it throughout the southeast United States.{{sfnp|Hood and Williamson|2008|p=38}} Coverage of Hensley's ministry was influential in prompting various churches to include the practice in their services.{{sfnp|Hood and Williamson|2008|p=41}} The media has focused on popular snake handlers such as Hensley, and the deaths of ministers due to snakebite have received particular attention.{{sfnp|Hood and Williamson|2008|p=39}}

==== The Church of God with Signs Following ====
Hensley was a minister of the Church of God, now known as the [[Church of God (Cleveland)]], founded by Richard Spurling and A. J. Tomlinson. In 1922, Hensley resigned from the Church of God,{{sfnp|Hood and Williamson|2008|p=47}} citing "trouble in the home";{{sfnp|Burton|1993|p=42}} his resignation marked the zenith of the practice of snake handling in the denomination, with the Church of God disavowing the practice of snake handling during the 1920s.{{sfnp|Hill, Hood, and Williamson|2005|p=220}}{{efn|{{harvnb|Hill, Hood, and Williamson|2005|p=117}}: In 1914, the Church of God had around 4,000 members. By 1922, it had grown to 23,000 members. Hill, Hood, and Williamson speculate that the Church of God disavowed snake handling in an attempt to draw more middle-class Christians to their denomination.}}

In the 1930s, he traveled the Southeast resuming his ministry and promoting the practice.<ref>{{cite book|last=Anderson|first=Robert Mapes|title=Vision of the Disinherited: The Making of American Pentecostalism|url=https://archive.org/details/visionofdisinher00robe|url-access=registration|year=1979|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|location=New York, New York; Oxford|page=[https://archive.org/details/visionofdisinher00robe/page/263 263]|isbn=978-0-19-502502-6 }}</ref>{{sfnp|Hood and Williamson|2008|pp=14, 37, 38}} If believers truly had the Holy Spirit within them, Hensley argued, they should be able to handle rattlesnakes and any number of other venomous serpents. They should also be able to drink poison and suffer no harm whatsoever. Snake handling as a test or demonstration of faith became popular wherever Hensley traveled and preached in the small towns of Tennessee, Kentucky, the Carolinas, Virginia, Ohio, and Indiana. Sister-churches later sprang up throughout the [[Appalachia]]n region.{{sfnp|Kimbrough|2002|p=}} In 1943, Hensley and Ramond Hayes, a young adherent of Hensley's teachings, started a church together in 1945, which they named the "Dolly Pond Church of God with Signs Following".{{sfnp|Burton|1993|p=52}} Snake-handling churches influenced by Hensley's ministry are broadly known as the '''Church of God with Signs Following'''. In July 1955, [[George Went Hensley#Death|Hensley died following a snakebite]] received during a service he was conducting in [[Altha, Florida]].

==== The Church of Lord Jesus with Signs Following ====
Serpent-handling in north [[Alabama]] and north [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] originated with James Miller in [[DeKalb County, Alabama|Sand Mountain, Alabama]], at about the same time. Miller apparently developed his belief independently of any knowledge of Hensley's ministry. Whereas Hensley's ministry was [[trinitarian]], the snake-handling churches influenced by Miller's ministry are [[non-trinitarian]], and are broadly known as the Church of Lord Jesus with Signs Following{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}}. This version dominates snake-handling churches north of the [[Appalachians]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cerm.info/bible_studies/Apologetics/snake_handlers.htm|title=Snake Handlers|website=cerm.info|accessdate=29 June 2017|archive-date=22 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160722140423/http://www.cerm.info/bible_studies/Apologetics/snake_handlers.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=v |first=Sandy |date=5 February 2010 |url=http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/handkerchiefs.html |title=The Handkerchief Phenomenon |website=deceptioninthechurch.com |publisher=Apologetics Coordination Team |accessdate=29 June 2017}}</ref>