Southern Religions in the 1920’s – 1930’s

By : Karianne Tremain

What Was Happening?

The powerful economy of America from 1920 to October

1929 is frequently overlooked or simply submerged

This is because the more exciting topics were Prohibition and the gangsters, the Jazz Age with its crazies, the KKK etc.

America became the wealthiest country in the world with no obvious rival

by 1930 America had hit a depression that was to have world-wide consequences

What Was Happening?

people were spending money, so then people

had to be employed to make things they bought

Then they would get paid, spent their money and the cycle continued, with debt building

This is from the new system the multi – pay with interest that got people into debt

What Was Happening?

Baptists

Baptists are Christians who comprise of a

group of denominations and churches

Baptists believe that baptism should be performed only for people who publically declared themselves believers (believer's baptism, as opposed to infant baptism)

Baptism must be done by immersion as opposed sprinkling

Baptists

Different from the very beginning those who identify

themselves as Baptists today differ widely from one another

In what they believe

how they worship

their attitudes toward other Christians

their understanding of what is important in Christian discipleship

Baptists

Speaking in Tongues

Within the Bible the lord predicted the gift of

tongues

He said, “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues” (Mark 16:17)

Speaking in Tongues

the use of “new” is important it represents a

language new to the person

the Russian language could be “new” to a person because they do not understand language but they can know of it, but if they know some of the language it does not count as “new”

Speaking in Tongues

Basically, speaking in tongues is talking in a language

the person knows nothing about

This not a natural ability that one might develop, but rather a special gift

This is shown in the book from when Smokey’s mother started to speak in tongues

“his mother had been one of the women who would occasionally stand up and start babbling out of her head, in an unknown tongue”(Flagg 15)

Speaking in Tongues

The Holiness Movement

This is a Revival Period

A revival is not a normal event it is special, unique

God acts in a more obvious way

It is a Spiritual movement that God works through to masses of people to convert them

The Holiness Movement

Started in 1836 and ended in 1939

Group meetings can be considered a huge “Pentecost”

Pentecost is a feast to celebrate the birth of the church from Acts of the Apostles 2: 1 – 31 within the bible

The salvation army was created within this time

The Holiness Movement

George Went Hensley

established the first official “Holiness Movement” With church’s

dedicated to snake handling in the 1920s from the biblical verse “They shall take up

serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them” Mark 16: 18

Snake Handling

A misconception about snake handling is that people

think that snake handlers believe they wont be bitten and are protected by God

While believers defend their tradition with scripture “They do not interpret it to mean they will not be

bitten or are immune to snake poison”

The question is about “obedience to God, and if they're bitten--that's God’s will”

Snake Handling

Many families have

people in their lives hurt or killed by the snakes

Dangers are clearly shown from survivors with shrivelled up hands and fingers missing

Snake Handling

An example is when Smokey’s mother is bitten

“his mother ran up, grabbed one of the snakes away from him, and looked it right in the face….Still wild-eyed and in a trance, she glanced down at her child for a split second, and in that second the rattler lunged and struck the woman in the side of her face…as her eyes glazed over, she sank slowly to the floor. She was dead in less than a minute.”(Flagg 16)

Snake Handling

Benedict Cary. “A Neuroscientific Look at Speaking in Tongues." New York Times.

2006. Web. October 20 2013 <http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/07/health/07brain.html?_r=1&>.

Christian History. “The Holiness Movement Timeline." Christian History. 2013. Web. October 20 2013 <http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/2004/issue82/6.26.html>.

Dr. Marcus J. Borg and Dr. Robert K. Johnston. When Religion and Politics Mix. Philadelphia: Mason Crest Publishers, 2006. Print.

Emory Libraries. "Overview: Religion and the U.S. South." Southern Spaces. 2004. Web. October 14 2013 < http://www.southernspaces.org/2004/overview-religion-and-us-south#section4>.

Encyclopadia Britannica. "Southern Baptist Convention." Encyclopadia Britannica. 2013. Web. October 143 2013 <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/556668/Southern-Baptist-Convention>.

Works Cited

Harry S. Stout. "Religion in the Civil War: The Southern Perspective." Teacher Serve. 2008.

Web. October 13 2013 <http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/nineteen/nkeyinfo/cwsouth.htm >.

Kenneth C. Davis. "America’s True History of Religious Tolerance." Smithsonian. 2012. Web. October 13 2013 < http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Americas-True-History-of-Religious-Tolerance.html?c=y&page=4 >.

Lehman Strauss. "Speaking in Tongues." Bible. org. 2013. Web. October 20 2013 <https://bible.org/article/speaking-tonguesL>.

Religion and Spirituality. “Snake Handling and the Pentecostal Church." Examiner.com. 2013. Web. October 20 2013 <http://www.examiner.com/article/snake-handling-and-the-pentecostal-church>.

Wikipedia. “Baptists." Wikipedia. 2013. Web. October 20 2013 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baptists>.

Works Cited