Snake Handling and Drinking Poison — A Commentary

I first came across the term “Snake Handler” in the book The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible. The image that immediately came to my mind was of people wielding long sticks with hook-like ends that I’d seen used in the past to lift snakes from one place to another without the handler having to get too close. Perhaps in secular circles, the term “snake handler” means exactly that. However, in religious contexts, the term refers to...