Glossolalia

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''Glossolalia is commonly called "speaking in tongues". For other uses of "speaking in tongues", see Speaking in Tongues (disambiguation).

Glossolalia (from the Greek, "γλώσσα" (glossa), tongue and "λαλώ" (lalô), to speak) comprises the utterance of what appears, depending on the listener and the context, either as an unknown foreign language (xenoglossia), as meaningless syllables, or as an unknown mystical language; the utterances sometimes occur as part of religious worship (religious glossolalia).

Whilst occurances of Glossolalia are widespread and well documented, there is considerable debate within religious communities (principally Christian) and elsewhere as to both its status - the extent to which glossolalic utterances can be considered to form language - and its source - whether glossolalia is a natural or supernatural phenomenon.

\"Speaking in tongues\" in Christian traditions

Glossolalia features both in Christian scriptures and in the practice of some contemporary Christians and Christian denominations. It is not, however, universally accepted either as God-inspired or as a relevant or legitimate Christian practice.

Tongues in the New Testament

In the New Testament, the book of Acts recounts how "tongues of fire" descended upon the heads of the Apostles, accompanied by the miraculous occurrence of speaking in languages unknown to them, but recognizable to others present as particular foreign languages. Not only their peers, but also anyone else in the room who spoke any other language, could understand the words that the Apostles spoke.

The Book of Acts (2:1) described the phenomenon in terms of a miracle of universal translation, enabling people from many parts of the world speaking many different languages to understand them. On the other hand, some commentators teach that this Biblical case exemplifies religious xenoglossia, i.e., miraculously speaking in an actual foreign language that the speaker does not know.

Some of the Orthodox hymns sung at the Feast of Pentecost, which commemorates this event in Acts, describe it as a reversal of what happened at the Tower of Babel as described in Genesis 11. In other words, the languages of humanity were differentiated at the Tower of Babel leading to confusion, but were reunited at Pentecost, resulting in the immediate proclamation of the Gospel to people who were gathered in Jerusalem from many different countries.

Elsewhere in the New Testament some scholors say Paul describes the experience as speaking in an "unknown tongue" In I Corinthians 14:2 The King James Version includes the word unknown, which is italicized indicating the word unknown does not appear in the original Greek manuscripts. Translators of the A.D. 1611 English version of the Bible, commissioned by James I of England, included the word 'unknown' with tongues. Paul refers to tongues again in (1 Cor 14:14-19), known as [theopneustic] glossolalia. Although the Apostle Paul commands church brethren, "Do not forbid speaking in tongues" (), and that he wishes those to whom he wrote "all spoke with tongues" () and claims himself to speak with tongues more than all of the church at Corinth combined ("I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all" ), Paul discourages simultaneous speaking in tongues directed at people rather than God, lest unbelievers think the assembled brethren "mad" (). Tongues, Paul claims, is speaking to God, rather than men, mysteries in the spirit (), edifies the tongues-speaker (), is the action of the praying of a person's spirit (), and serves to bless God and give thanks ().

Biblical descriptions of persons actually 'speaking in tongues' occur three times in the book of Acts, each time coupled with the phenomenon of the Baptism with the Holy Spirit:

Fundamental to Biblical interpretation is the appropriate transliteration of primitive terms, and just as the term "spirit" comes from "breath" or "vapour", the term "tongues of fire" is almost certainly a use of fire as a metaphor for markedly increased and radiant powers of speech during the Pentecost.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}

Tongues in church history

Twentieth century Pentecostalism was not the earliest instance of "speaking in tongues" in church history. There were antecedents in several centuries of the Christian era, e.g.

• 150 AD - Justin Martyr refers to tongues-speaking as practiced in his day in his Dialogue with Trypho, "If you want proof that the Spirit of God who was with your people and left you to come to us, come into our assemblies and there you will see Him cast out demons, heal the sick and hear Him speak in tongues and prophesy."
• before 200 AD - Iranaeus in his treatise "Against Heresies" speaks of those "who through the Spirit speak all kinds of languages."[Against Heresies]
• circa 200 AD - Tertullian referred to the "interpretation of tongues" as a "sign", examples of which could be produced in his day "without any difficulty".[Against Marcion, Book V, Chapter 8]
• circa 350 AD - Ambrose, in his work "Of the Holy Spirit," mentions the "gift of tongues" as being given in his day by "the Father".[Of the Holy Spirit], XIII, 151.
• circa 390 AD - Augustine of Hippo, in an exposition on Psalm 32, discusses a phenomenon contemporary to his time of those who "sing in jubilation", singing the praises of God not in their own language, but in a manner that "may not be confined by the limits of syllables" On Psalm 32, Enarrationes in Psalmos, 32, ii, Sermo 1:8.
• 1100s - Hildegard of Bingen spoke and sang in tongues. Her spiritual songs were referred to by contemporaries as "concerts in the Spirit."
• 1300s - The Moravians are referred to by detractors as having spoken in tongues. John Roche, a contemporary critic, claimed that the Moravians "commonly broke into some disconnected Jargon, which they often passed upon the vulgar, 'as the exuberant and resistless Evacuations of the Spirit'" Stanley M. Burgess, "Medieval and Modern Western Churches," Initial Evidence, ed. Gary B. McGee (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1991), 32.
• 1500s - The French Prophets: The Camisards also spoke sometimes in languages that were unknown: "Several persons of both Sexes," James Du Bois of Montpellier recalled, "I have heard in their Extasies pronounce certain words, which seem'd to the Standers-by, to be some Foreign Language." These utterances were sometimes accompanied by the gift of interpretation exercised, in Du Bois' experience, by the same person who had spoken in tongues. John Lacy, A Cry from the Desert (London, 1708), p. 32) (The Charismatic Movement, 1975, Michael P. Hamilton, p 75)
• 1600s - Early Quakers, such as Edward Burrough, make mention of tongues speaking in their meetings: "We spoke with new tongues, as the Lord gave us utterance, and His Spirit led us" Epistle to the Reader by Edward Burrough, prefixed to George Fox, [The Great Mystery of the Great Whore Unfolded] and Antichrist's Kingdom Revealed Unto Destruction(London: Thomas Simmons, 1659), ISBN 0404093531.
• 1800s - Edward Irving and the Catholic Apostolic Church. Edward Irving, a minister in the Church of Scotland, writes of a woman who would "speak at great length, and with superhuman strength, in an unknown tongue, to the great astonishment of all who heard, and to her own great edification and enjoyment in God" Edward Irving, "Facts Connected With Recent Manifestations of Spiritual Gifts," Frasers Magazine (Jan. 1832). Irving further stated that "tongues are a great instrument for personal edification, however mysterious it may seem to us."
• Early Pentecostalism - Earliest Pentecostals believed that their speaking in tongues really was xenoglossiaAnderson, Robert Mapes, Vision of the disinherited : the making of American Pentecostalism, Peabody, Mass. : Hendrickson Publishers, 1992, ISBN 1565630009, (Originally published: Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979)
  :"Alfred G. Garr and his wife went to the Far East with the conviction that they could preach the gospel in 'the Indian and Chinese languages.' Lucy Farrow went to Africa and returned after seven months during which she was alleged to have preached to the natives in their own 'Kru language.' The German pastor and analyst Oskar Pfister reported the case of a Pentecostal... 'Simon,' who had planned to go to China using tongues for preaching. Numerous other Pentecostal missionaries went abroad believing they had the miraculous ability to speak in the languages of those to whom they were sent. These Pentecostal claims were well known at the time. S.C. Todd of the Bible Missionary Society investigated eighteen Pentecostals who went to Japan, China, and India 'expecting to preach to the natives in those countries in their own tongue,' and found that by their own admission 'in no single instance have [they] been able to do so.' As these and other missionaries returned in disappointment and failure, Pentecostals were compelled to rethink their original view of speaking in tongues". .

Contemporary Christian glossolalia

Some Christians practice glossolalia as a part of their private devotions and some sections of the Christian community also accept and sometimes promote the use of glossolalia within corporate worship. This is particularly true within the Pentecostal and Charismatic traditions. Both Pentecostals and Charismatics believe that the ability to speak in tongues, and sometimes the utterance itself, is a supernatural gift from God.

Three different manifestations or forms of glossolalia can be identified in Charismatic / Pentecostal belief. The "sign of tongues" refers to xenoglossia, in which listeners hear their native language by means of divine power. The "gift of tongues" or "giving a tongue" refers to a glossolalic utterance by an individual and addressed to a congregation of, typically, other believers. This utterance is believed to be inspired directly by the Holy Spirit and requires a natural language interpretation, made by the speaker or another person if it is to be understood by others present. Lastly "praying in the spirit" is typically used to refer to glossolalia as part of personal prayer. Both "giving a tongue" and "praying in the spirit" feature in contemporary Pentecostal and Charismatic practice.

Christians who practice glossolalia typically describe their experience as a regular and even mundane aspect of private prayer that tends to be associated with calm and pleasant emotions. This is in contrast to the perception of glossolalia amongst Christians who witness but do not practice glossolalia, and those who have no experience of glossolalia. Both tend to see speaking in tongues as a group activity associated with heightened emotion and excitement.Grady, B., & Loewenthal, K. M. (1997). Features associated with speaking in tongues (glossolalia). British Journal of Medical Psychology, 70, 185-191.

The controversy about modern tongues

The claims of Pentecostals and Charismatics regarding Tongues has led to a serious and widespread controversy in many branches of the Christian Church, particularly since the birth of the Charismatic Movement in the 1960s. Many books have been published either defendingExample: Christenson, Laurence, Speaking in tongues : and its significance for the church, Minneapolis, MN : Dimension Books, 1968. or attackingExample: Gromacki, Robert Glenn, The modern tongues movement, Nutley, N.J. : Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., 1973, ISBN 0875223048 (Originally published 1967) their claims. The issue has often caused splits within local churches or in larger denominations. The controversy over tongues per se is usually part of the wider controversy between continuationists and cessationists.

Glossolalia in other religions

Aside from Christians, certain religious groups also have been observed to practice some form of theopneustic glossolalia.

Glossolalia is evident in the renowned ancient Oracle of Delphi, whereby a priestess of the god Apollo (called a sibyl) speaks in strange utterances, supposedly through the spirit of Apollo in her, but possibly related to high levels of natural gas present in spring waters beneath the temple.

Certain Gnostic magical texts from the Roman period have written on them nonsense syllables like "t t t t t t t t n n n n n n n n n d d d d d d d..." etc. It is believed that these may be transliterations of the sorts of sounds made during glossolalia. The Coptic Gospel of the Egyptians also features a hymn of (mostly) nonsense syllables which is thought to be an early example of Christian glossolalia.

In the 19th century, Spiritism was developed into a religion of its own thanks to the work of Allan Kardec and the phenomenon was seen as one of the self-evident manifestations of Spirits. Spiritists argued that some cases were actually cases of Xenoglossia (when one speaks in a language unknown to him). However, the importance attributed to it, as well as its frequency, has since decreased significantly. Present-day spiritists regard the phenomenon pointless, as it does not convey any intelligible message to those present.

Glossolalia has also been observed in shamanism and the Voodoo religion of Haiti; it can often be brought on by the ingestion of hallucinogenic drugs or entheogens such as Psilocybe mushrooms.

Scientific perspectives

Linguistics

The syllables that make up instances of glossolalia typically appear to be unpatterned reorganizations of phonemes from the primary language of the person uttering the syllables; thus, the glossolalia of people from Russia, the United Kingdom, and Brazil all sound quite different from each other, but vaguely resemble the Russian, English, and Portuguese languages, respectively. Many linguists generally regard most glossolalia as lacking any identifiable semantics, syntax, or morphology.http://www.meta-religion.com/Linguistics/Glossolalia/contemporary_linguistic_study.htm

Psychology

The first scientific study of glossolalia was done by psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin as part of his research into the linguistic behaviour of schizophrenic patients. In 1927, G.B. Cutten published his book Speaking with tongues; historically and psychologically considered, which was regarded a standard in medical literature for many years. Like Kraepelin, he linked glossolalia to schizophrenia and hysteria. In 1972, John Kildahl took a different psychological perspective in his book The Psychology of Speaking in Tongues. He stated that glossolalia was not necessarily a symptom of a mental illness and that glossolalists suffer less from stress. He did observe, however, that glossolalists tend to have more need of authority figures and appeared to have had more crises in their lives.

Nicholas Spanos described glossolalia as an acquired ability, for which no real trance is needed (Glossolalia as Learned Behavior: An Experimental Demonstration, 1987). It is also known as a simplex communication.

Glossolalia in popular culture

• Neal Stephenson's science fiction novel Snow Crash involves Sumerian mythology, ancient history, the origin of languages and the phenomenon of glossolalia.

References

Biblical references to speaking in tongues

• Isaiah 28:11 (1 Corinthians 14:21)
• Mark 16:17
• Acts 2:4-15
• Acts 10:44-48
• Acts 19:2-6
• 1 Corinthians 12:8-11
• 1 Corinthians 13:1
• 1 Corinthians 14:1-40

See also

• Biblical hermeneutics
• Covenant theology
• Dispensationalism
• Pentecostalism
• Charismatics
• Grammatical-historical

External links

• [Glossolalia, an online book by Rene Noorbergen]
• [Speaking in Tongues] - Skeptical critique of the "practise of Speaking in Tongues". Author(s) not identified.
• [A Skeptic's Perspective] The Skeptic's Dictionary on Glossolalia
• [Glossolalia as Foreign Language] by D. William Faupel
• [UbuWeb Ethnopoetics: Glossolalia]
• [Bible411.com on Glossolalia] Skeptical critique from the point of view of the Bible Students of New Brunswick.
• [Andrei Bely's Glossalolia with an English translation]
• [Tongues Have Ceased Christian site with a sceptical view]

 

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