Chapter 29 Further Reading: Faith in the Hollers

Jones, Loyal. Faith and Meaning in the Southern Uplands. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1999. The single best scholarly introduction to Appalachian religion, written by a lifelong student of mountain culture who directed the Appalachian Center at Berea College for decades. Jones takes mountain religion seriously on its own terms, explaining the farmer-preacher tradition, the theological diversity of Baptist and Holiness congregations, and the social functions of the church with both scholarly rigor and genuine empathy. Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand what religion actually looked and felt like in Appalachian communities.

McCauley, Deborah Vansau. Appalachian Mountain Religion: A History. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1995. The most comprehensive academic treatment of the religious traditions of the Appalachian mountains, with particular attention to the Baptist, Holiness, and independent church traditions that outsiders have most frequently misunderstood. McCauley's central argument — that mountain religion represents a distinctive, coherent religious tradition rather than a degraded version of mainstream Protestantism — is both persuasive and important. Scholarly but readable, and indispensable for the serious student of Appalachian religion.

Dorgan, Howard. Giving Glory to God in Appalachia: Worship Practices of Six Baptist Subdenominations. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1987. A detailed ethnographic study of worship in six Baptist traditions in the southern Appalachian mountains, including Regular Baptists, Primitive Baptists, and Old Regular Baptists. Dorgan attended hundreds of services, recorded sermons and hymns, and interviewed ministers and congregants to produce an account that captures the texture of worship in ways that theological analysis alone cannot. Particularly valuable for its descriptions of lined-out hymn singing, chanted preaching, and footwashing rituals.

Covington, Dennis. Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 1995. A journalist's account of his encounter with snake-handling congregations in Alabama and Appalachia that transcends the usual sensationalism of the genre. Covington writes with genuine respect for the people he meets, takes their theology seriously, and ultimately grapples with the pull the practice exerted on him personally. The most thoughtful and nuanced account of snake handling available, and a model for how outsiders can write about unfamiliar religious practices without either condescending or romanticizing.

Kimbrough, David L. Taking Up Serpents: Snake Handlers of Eastern Kentucky. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1995. An academic study of snake-handling congregations in eastern Kentucky that provides historical context, theological analysis, and ethnographic detail. Kimbrough places the practice within the broader tradition of Holiness-Pentecostal worship and argues that snake handling, however marginal, is an authentic expression of a theological tradition with deep roots. Useful as a complement to Covington's more personal account.

Flynt, Wayne. Alabama Baptists: Southern Baptists in the Heart of Dixie. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1998. While focused on Alabama rather than the central Appalachian mountains, Flynt's study of Baptist life in the southern highlands provides essential context for understanding the denominational dynamics — Regular vs. Missionary vs. Primitive — that shaped religious life across the broader region. Flynt is particularly good on the social functions of Baptist churches in rural communities and on the theological tensions within the Baptist tradition.

Jackson, John L. The Sacred Project of American Sociology. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008. Not specifically about Appalachia, but essential reading for understanding the "exotic gaze" through which outsiders have viewed mountain religion. Jackson analyzes how social science has constructed certain communities as objects of study — exotic, primitive, in need of explanation — while treating others as normal and self-evident. His framework is directly applicable to the history of how Appalachian religion has been represented by journalists, sociologists, and documentary filmmakers.

Billings, Dwight B., and Robert Goldman. "Religion and Class Consciousness in the Kanawha County Textbook Controversy." In Appalachia and America: Autonomy and Regional Dependence, edited by Allen Batteau, 68-85. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1983. A landmark essay examining the role of religion in the 1974 Kanawha County, West Virginia textbook controversy, in which conservative religious parents organized massive protests against textbooks they considered anti-Christian and anti-family. Billings and Goldman analyze the conflict as a case study in how religious conviction intersects with class consciousness, media representation, and political power — themes directly relevant to the contemporary politicization of Appalachian religion discussed in Chapter 29.

Beale, Thomas F. "Church Life in the Appalachian South." In Appalachia Inside Out, edited by Robert J. Higgs, Ambrose N. Manning, and Jim Wayne Miller, 476-490. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1995. A concise, accessible overview of the social functions of the church in Appalachian communities, covering mutual aid, dispute resolution, community formation, and identity. Part of the Appalachia Inside Out anthology, which is itself an excellent general resource for Appalachian studies and is cited throughout this textbook.

Patterson, Beverly Bush. The Sound of the Dove: Singing in the Appalachian Primitive Baptist Churches. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2001. A musicological and ethnographic study of the distinctive singing tradition of Primitive Baptist congregations in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Patterson describes the lined-out, unaccompanied hymn singing that has been practiced in these churches for centuries, analyzes its musical characteristics, and connects it to broader oral traditions in the British Isles and West Africa. Essential for anyone who wants to understand the sound — not just the theology — of traditional mountain worship.

Documentary: In the Good Old-Fashioned Way. Directed by Herb E. Smith. Appalshop, 1973. A short documentary by the Appalshop media collective in Whitesburg, Kentucky, showing a traditional Old Regular Baptist service — the lined-out singing, the chanted preaching, the footwashing — without narration or commentary. The film allows the viewer to experience the worship on its own terms, without the interpretive framework that outside observers typically impose. A powerful corrective to the sensationalized representations of mountain religion that dominate popular media. Available through Appalshop (appalshop.org).

Stephenson, John B. Shiloh: A Mountain Community. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1968. A sociological study of a small mountain community in western North Carolina that devotes significant attention to the role of the church in community life. Stephenson documents how the church functioned as the primary institution of social organization, moral authority, and collective identity — the community infrastructure theme that is central to Chapter 29. A classic of Appalachian community studies.