Finding Faith in Salvation on Sand Mountain by Covington

Overview of Salvation on Sand Mountain

Salvation on Sand Mountain by Dennis Covington is a work of non-fiction that sets out initially to objectively describe a time and place — the rural South in the early 1990s, specifically the part of the rural South in which snake handling is practiced by Christian sects. What begins as an objective exercise in describing this peculiar region and its religious practices quickly becomes a personal exercise in reflection and faith. The author becomes so immersed in the world of snake handling that he himself becomes a practitioner.

The book follows in the genre of documentary filmmaker Ross McElwee, who pioneered an aesthetic and experiential form of non-fiction filmmaking by setting out to document a time and place but ultimately turning the camera on himself and his own experience of it. Covington does the same in his book, and the end result is that the entire work becomes a kind of phenomenological study — a journalistic exercise into a fringe religion that takes an unexpectedly personal turn and tone as the author connects more and more with his subject and identifies his own heritage with theirs.

Covington's narrative does not have one single objective point or purpose. It starts off intending to write in a journalistic fashion about the Church of Jesus with Signs Following, whose preacher had been sentenced to 99 years in prison for forcing his wife to place her arm in a box of rattlesnakes, which promptly bit her. He was convicted of attempted murder. Covington went down to cover the story. He ended up becoming part of it. Instead of remaining a disinterested observer, he became interested — and then he became a participant. Ultimately, the point of the book is faith, and Covington's narrative acts as a slow-burning meditation on faith and doubt, for the two grow simultaneously in him, side by side, as he voyages into his own background, his own heart, and his own mind.

How Covington Engages With Faith and Snake Handling

One could easily characterize the book as a more restrained version of Gonzo journalism — but it is not quite that. Covington's immersion was authentic because it was prayerful and in earnest: not wacky for the sake of being wacky, not outlandish for the sake of being outlandish, not fringe merely for the sake of occupying the fringe. Covington prayed that he "would be anointed to handle serpents" himself (Covington, 2010, p. 131) because he was, in his own words, "taken in by the handlers…as if I were homeless and they had given me sanctuary from the World. They fed me with the Word and clothed me in the Spirit, and I began to think of them as genuine Christian mystics out of a heritage so revolutionary, deep, and otherworldly that the established church had no alternative but to deny it" (Covington, 2010, pp. 130–131).

Covington saw in the snake handlers a reflection of his own family and his own inner soul seeking some form of expression, some form of truth, some outlet. He saw in them a devout and pious people who truly believed in Christ and felt animated by the Holy Spirit to handle snakes as a kind of testimony of faith. The more he got to know them, the more Covington forgot he was supposed to be reporting on them — not joining them — which is why his editor finally told him, "Step back. You're too close to your subject" (Covington, 2010, p. 131). Covington addresses the issue of snake handling, and ultimately faith itself, by immersing himself in the world of his subject and participating in their rituals, his own faith mirroring theirs in fervency and degree at times.

References

Covington, D. (2010). Salvation on Sand Mountain. New York, NY: Da Capo Press.