Chapter 29 Exercises: Faith in the Hollers

Exercise 1: Primary Source Analysis — Church Minute Books

Church minute books — the handwritten records of congregational meetings — are among the most valuable primary sources for understanding Appalachian community life. Read the following adapted excerpts from a Primitive Baptist church minute book in Floyd County, Virginia (1850s–1870s):

"Sept. 1853 — The church met in conference. Brother Jenkins reported that Brother Sizemore had been seen drinking spirits at the county seat and failing to attend meeting for three months. Brother Sizemore was called to account. He acknowledged his fault and expressed sorrow. The church agreed to restore him on condition of future sobriety and regular attendance."

"March 1858 — The church took up the matter of Sister Owens, who reported that Brother Hale had refused to return a hog that wandered onto his land from Sister Owens' property. Both parties were heard. The church determined that Brother Hale must return the hog or its value in corn. Brother Hale agreed."

"June 1867 — The church debated whether to correspond with the Missionary Baptists regarding a proposed joint meeting. After considerable discussion, the church voted unanimously against correspondence, holding that missionary societies are an invention of man and not warranted by scripture."

a) What functions beyond worship is the church serving in these excerpts? Identify at least three distinct roles.

b) In the second excerpt, the church is essentially serving as a court. What advantages might church-based dispute resolution have had over the formal legal system in a remote mountain community? What disadvantages?

c) The third excerpt shows a Primitive Baptist congregation refusing to cooperate with Missionary Baptists. What theological principle is at stake? How does this refusal reflect the differences between these Baptist traditions described in Chapter 29?

d) What do these minute book entries tell us about the power dynamics within the congregation? Who has authority? How is that authority exercised?

Exercise 2: Mapping the Denominational Landscape

Using the information from Chapter 29, create a comparison chart of the major religious traditions in Appalachia:

a) Fill in the chart based on information from the chapter. For any cells you cannot fill from the chapter alone, note what additional research you would need to do.

b) Which tradition do you think would have been most appealing to a coal miner in a company town in 1920? Explain your reasoning, considering both theological content and social function.

c) Which tradition would have been most threatening to a coal operator in the same period? Why?

Exercise 3: The Farmer-Preacher Tradition — Then and Now

Then: Read the following description of a farmer-preacher from an oral history collected in Letcher County, Kentucky, in 1971:

"Daddy was a farmer first and a preacher second, or maybe they was the same thing. He'd be out in the field all week, and come Saturday night he'd be studying his Bible by lamplight, and Sunday morning he'd stand up before the people and preach like God had set fire to his tongue. Nobody paid him a nickel for it. He said if God wanted him to preach, God would feed his family through the corn and the hogs, and he didn't need a salary from man."

Now: Research the concept of bivocational ministry in contemporary Appalachian churches. Many small churches today still cannot afford full-time ministers and rely on pastors who work other jobs during the week.

a) What similarities do you see between the farmer-preacher tradition described in the oral history and contemporary bivocational ministry? What differences?

b) What are the advantages of a minister who shares the daily economic life of his or her congregation? What are the disadvantages (in terms of time, training, energy, and ministerial capacity)?

c) The farmer-preacher tradition is sometimes romanticized as a purer form of ministry. Is this romanticization warranted? What problems might arise in a system where ministers have no formal theological education?

Exercise 4: Religion and the Labor Movement — Analyzing Competing Claims

During the Harlan County coal wars, different ministers made competing theological claims about the labor conflict. Consider the following two positions:

Position A (Minister supporting the union): "The Bible says, 'The laborer is worthy of his hire.' It says, 'Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbor's service without wages.' When children go hungry so that the coal operator can build a fine house in Lexington, that is sin, and the church must say so."

Position B (Minister opposing the union): "The Bible says, 'Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters.' It says, 'Be content with such things as ye have.' The union is preaching envy and covetousness, which are sins. The Christian's duty is to work hard, be patient, and trust in the Lord for his reward in the next life."

a) Both positions cite scripture. Both are, in their own terms, sincere. How do you evaluate competing biblical interpretations when both claim divine authority? Is there a way to adjudicate between them that does not simply impose your own preferences?

b) Who benefits from each theological position? Does the fact that Position B serves the economic interests of the coal operators necessarily mean it is wrong? Does the fact that Position A serves the economic interests of the miners necessarily mean it is right?

c) Florence Reece's "Which Side Are You On?" insists that there are "no neutrals" in the coal war. Can a church be neutral in a labor conflict? Should it be? What are the costs of neutrality?

Exercise 5: Hymns as Theology

Read the full text of "Amazing Grace" (John Newton, 1772) and "Poor Wayfaring Stranger" (traditional, date unknown). If possible, listen to recordings of both hymns performed in traditional Appalachian style (unaccompanied or with minimal instrumentation).

a) What theological claims does each hymn make about the nature of suffering, the possibility of salvation, and the relationship between this world and the next?

b) "Amazing Grace" was written by a former slave trader who experienced a religious conversion. How does knowing the author's biography affect your reading of the hymn? Does it matter who wrote a hymn, or only what the hymn says?

c) "Poor Wayfaring Stranger" describes this world as a place of "sickness, toil, and danger" and looks forward to a "bright land" beyond it. Critics have argued that this theology reconciles people to suffering they should resist. Defenders argue that it provides genuine comfort and hope in the face of suffering that cannot be immediately changed. Which argument do you find more persuasive, and why?

d) How do these hymns compare to contemporary praise music heard in modern megachurches? What has changed in the theology, the emotional tone, and the musical style? What has been gained and what has been lost?

Exercise 6: The Exotic Gaze

This exercise asks you to analyze how outsiders have represented Appalachian religion.

a) Search for images of "Appalachian religion" or "mountain religion" online. What practices and scenes are most commonly depicted? Make a list of the ten most frequent types of images.

b) Now think about what is NOT depicted. Based on Chapter 29, what practices and institutions would a comprehensive visual representation of Appalachian religion include? Make a list of images that are missing from the online search results.

c) Compare your two lists. What does the gap between them tell you about how media representation shapes understanding? What visual images of Appalachian religion would you create if you wanted to correct the distortion?

Exercise 7: Whose Story Is Missing?

Chapter 29 focuses primarily on white Protestant Christianity, which has been the numerically dominant religious tradition in Appalachia. But the religious landscape of the mountains has always been more diverse than this focus suggests.

a) Research the role of Black churches in Appalachian communities. What denominations were most common? How did the Black church serve as community infrastructure in ways similar to and different from white churches? How did the racial dynamics of the region shape Black religious life?

b) Research the Catholic presence in Appalachia, particularly in coalfield communities where Catholic immigrants from Italy, Poland, Hungary, and other European countries settled. How were Catholic congregations received in a predominantly Protestant region? What role did Catholic parishes play in immigrant community life?

c) Research the Jewish presence in Appalachian towns — small but historically significant in some communities, particularly in commercial centers. How did Jewish families and congregations navigate life in a region where Protestant Christianity was the assumed norm?

d) Write a 500-word reflection on what the religious diversity of Appalachia tells us about the limitations of the "homogeneous white Protestant" narrative that dominates popular understanding of the region.

Exercise 8: Oral History Prompt — Faith in the Family

Interview a family member or community elder about the role of religion in their life or their family's history. Suggested questions:

• What church (if any) did your family attend when you were growing up? What denomination was it?
• Was the minister paid or unpaid? Did he (or she) have another job?
• What role did the church play in your community beyond Sunday services? (Food, mutual aid, social events, dispute resolution?)
• Were there times when the church helped your family through a crisis? What happened?
• Did the church ever take a position on a political or social issue? What was it?
• Has the religious landscape of your community changed during your lifetime? How?

Write a 500-word summary connecting the interview to the themes of Chapter 29. If you are not from Appalachia or a religious background, interview someone from a different community about the social functions of religious institutions in their experience, and draw comparisons.

Note: See Appendix F (Oral History Guide) for detailed guidance on conducting and recording oral history interviews, including informed consent protocols.

Exercise 9: Discussion Questions

Discuss the following in small groups or as a full class:

a) Chapter 29 argues that religion in Appalachia has been "both comfort and constraint." Can you identify other institutions — in Appalachia or elsewhere — that serve this dual function? Is it possible for an institution to provide genuine comfort without also imposing some degree of constraint?

b) The contemporary politicization of Appalachian religion — its alignment with conservative partisan politics — represents, the chapter suggests, a departure from the tradition of the church as a nonpartisan community institution. Do you agree that this is a departure, or could you argue that Appalachian religion has always been political? What is the difference between a church that supports a labor strike and a church that supports a political candidate?

c) The megachurch model is described as both a break with the Appalachian religious tradition (in its scale, professionalism, and distance from the farmer-preacher model) and a continuation of it (in its community-serving functions). Which interpretation do you find more persuasive? Is the megachurch a natural evolution of mountain religion or a replacement of it?

d) This chapter treats snake handling as the "most sensationalized, least representative practice" in Appalachian religion. Is there a practice in your own community or culture that is similarly sensationalized by outsiders? How does that distortion affect how your community is perceived?

Exercise 10: Community History Portfolio — Cultural Portrait (Religion)

Complete Chapter 29's Checkpoint of your Community History Portfolio as described at the end of the chapter. Your submission should include:

1. A list of the earliest churches established in your selected county, with dates and denominations
2. Evidence (from any available source) of churches serving community functions beyond worship
3. An analysis of the relationship between churches and the dominant industry during the industrial period
4. A description of the current religious landscape of the county
5. One primary source with a 200-word analysis

Due date: as specified by your instructor. This checkpoint will be incorporated into your final portfolio at the end of the semester.