Speaking in Tongues: A Critical Historical Examination


Book Description

In three carefully researched volumes, this ground-breaking study examines the gift of tongues through 2,000 years of church history. Starting in the present and working back in time, these volumes consider (1) the modern redefinition of “tongues” as a private prayer language; (2) the church’s perennial understanding of “tongues” as ordinary human languages; and (3) the Corinthian “tongues,” which, in light of Jewish liturgical tradition, turn out to have been a foreign liturgical language (Hebrew or Aramaic) requiring bilingual interpreters. In the first volume, the authors establish that modern glossolalia, far from being a supernatural gift enjoyed by certain believers since the time of Pentecost and undergoing a resurgence in modern times, has no precedent in church life prior to the nineteenth century. They discuss why German theologians, responding to the Irvingite revival, coined the term “glossolalia” in the 1830s; why Pentecostals between 1906–8 quietly began redefining “tongues” to mean a heavenly language unintelligible to human beings but pleasing to God, instead of foreign languages useful for evangelism; why Protestant cessationists believed miraculous tongues had ceased; and why interpolated idioms like “unknown tongues” in Protestant Bibles were aimed originally at Rome’s use of Latin.




Speaking in Tongues: A Critical Historical Examination, Volume 2


Book Description

In three carefully researched volumes, this ground-breaking study examines the gift of tongues through two thousand years of church history. Starting in the present and working back in time, these volumes consider (1) the modern redefinition of “tongues” as a private prayer language; (2) the church’s perennial understanding of “tongues” as ordinary human languages; and (3) the Corinthian “tongues,” which, in light of Jewish liturgical tradition, turn out to have been a Semitic liturgical language requiring bilingual interpreters. This second volume tracks the perception and practice of tongues back through the first eighteen hundred years of church history, demonstrating that “tongue-speaking” was always active but puzzlingly different from today’s glossolalia. From Pope Benedict XIV’s detailed treatise in the 1700s, it works back through long-forgotten scholastic and patristic debates to the earliest Christian writers such as Irenaeus. No other resource on the subject approaches the depth and scope of the present volume.




Speaking in Tongues


Book Description

Speaking in Tongues explores the phenomenon from a multidisciplinary approach. Uncover how speaking in tongues can be logically defended from various fields of study and be proven to be an essential spiritual practice for Christians today. Through this unique, Spirit-inspired act, practitioners are offered a powerful mode of communication with God that is transformational. Discover the answer to questions like these: •Does a Lukan theology of speaking in tongues support an initial physical evidence position? •What are the Pauline frameworks for how speaking in tongues should operate in the church? •How does speaking in tongues practically benefit the practitioner? •Can speaking in tongues stand up against psychological, sociological, and linguistic scrutiny? •Did speaking in tongues cease from church history? Take a deep dive into the phenomenon of speaking in tongues to learn how a multidisciplinary perspective can empower the practitioner to understand and defend this distinctive practice in fresh ways.




Speaking in Tongues: A Critical Historical Examination


Book Description

In three carefully researched volumes, this ground-breaking study examines the gift of tongues through 2,000 years of church history. Starting in the present and working back in time, these volumes consider (1) the modern redefinition of "tongues" as a private prayer language; (2) the church's perennial understanding of "tongues" as ordinary human languages; and (3) the Corinthian "tongues," which, in light of Jewish liturgical tradition, turn out to have been a foreign liturgical language (Hebrew or Aramaic) requiring bilingual interpreters. In the first volume, the authors establish that modern glossolalia, far from being a supernatural gift enjoyed by certain believers since the time of Pentecost and undergoing a resurgence in modern times, has no precedent in church life prior to the nineteenth century. They discuss why German theologians, responding to the Irvingite revival, coined the term "glossolalia" in the 1830s; why Pentecostals between 1906-8 quietly began redefining "tongues" to mean a heavenly language unintelligible to human beings but pleasing to God, instead of foreign languages useful for evangelism; why Protestant cessationists believed miraculous tongues had ceased; and why interpolated idioms like "unknown tongues" in Protestant Bibles were aimed originally at Rome's use of Latin.




Speaking in Tongues


Book Description

Have you ever wondered why your prayer language doesn’t sound like real words? And why is it so repetitive? Why does it usually start with the same few words or syllables? Maybe you’ve asked those questions at times. We’ve asked the same questions—and quite a few others—regarding the gifts of tongues and interpretation of tongues. Then we sought the Lord for understanding of these gifts and did our best to operate in them faithfully. He gave us many insights and answers, and then brought it all together in a book. That was something we never really planned. It just sort of happened. We aren’t megachurch pastors. We don’t lead multi-national ministries. But we did have a calling from the Lord to write a book and spread a message. What exactly is that message? Speaking in tongues and interpreting tongues are powerful gifts with practical use for everyday people like us. When people operate in these gifts, God blesses the person operating in the gift, but He also blesses the people around them. Other Questions We Explore in the Book: What does speaking in tongues feel like emotionally? What is the purpose of speaking in tongues? What are the benefits? How does the gift of interpretation work? Are biblical tongues earthly languages, or heavenly languages? Or both? We invite you to explore these questions with us, as you read through our book. Come and Join Us Online: Be sure to check out Called Writers on YouTube for instructions and testimonies about the gifts of tongues and interpretation of tongues. CalledWriters.com/Speaking-in-Tongues also has updated testimonies, a free book excerpt, videos, and other information about speaking in tongues and interpreting tongues. God has continued to move and bless people through these spiritual gifts since publication of the book! Special Offer: This book contains a coupon code for GODSPEED Magazine, a new Christian magazine that covers “God in Action” around the world. So, readers of our book can get a free 90-day trial subscription ($15 value) using the coupon code found in the book. A nice little bonus reward for purchasing this book! About the Publisher: Called Writers Christian Publishing is a new Christian publishing house that seeks to build up the Body of Christ and spread the Gospel. We really appreciate you considering our book. Thank you so very much for your support!




When I Spoke in Tongues


Book Description

A memoir of the profound destabilization that comes from losing one's faith--and a young woman's journey to reconcile her lack of belief with her love for her deeply religious family. Growing up in poverty in the rural backwoods of southern Maryland, the Pentecostal church was at the core of Jessica Wilbanks' family life. At sixteen, driven by a desire to discover the world, Jessica walked away from the church--trading her faith for freedom, and driving a wedge between her and her deeply religious family. But fundamentalist faiths haunt their adherents long after belief fades--former believers frequently live in limbo, straddling two world views and trying to reconcile their past and present. Ten years later, struggling with guilt and shame, Jessica began a quest to recover her faith. It led her to West Africa, where she explored the Yorùbá roots of the Pentecostal faith, and was once again swept up by the promises and power of the church. After a terrifying car crash, she finally began the difficult work of forgiving herself for leaving the church and her family and finding her own path. When I Spoke in Tongues is a story of the painful and complicated process of losing one's faith and moving across class divides. And in the end, it's a story of how a family splintered by dogmatic faith can eventually be knit together again through love.




The Art of Tradition


Book Description

In 1959, three writers - all intimately familiar with the Native American culture of their time and locale - collaborated to produce a study entitled 'Religious Customs of Modern Michigan Algonquians'. That study is reproduced here - for the first time in book form - along with a substantive editor's introduction.







The Unbridled Tongue


Book Description

The Unbridled Tongue looks at gossip, rumour, and talking too much in Renaissance France in order to uncover what was specific about these practices in the period. Taking its cue from Erasmus's Lingua, in which both the subjective and political consequences of an idle and unbridled tongue are emphasised, the book investigates the impact of gossip and rumour on contemporary conceptions of identity and political engagement. Emily Butterworth discusses prescriptive literature on the tongue and theological discussions of Pentecost and prophecy, and then covers nearly a century in chapters focused on a single text: Rabelais's Tiers Livre, Marguerite de Navarre's Heptaméron, Ronsard's Discours des misères de ce temps, Montaigne's 'Des boyteux', Brantôme's Dames galantes and the anonymous Caquets de l'accouchée. In covering the 'long sixteenth century', the book is able to investigate the impact of the French Wars of Religion on perceptions of gossip and rumour, and place them in the context of an emerging public sphere of political critique and discussion, principally through the figure of the 'public voice' which, although it was associated with unruly utterance, was nevertheless a powerful rhetorical tool for the expression of grievances. The Cynic virtue of parrhesia, or free speech, is similarly ambivalent in many accounts, oscillating between bold truth-telling (liberté) and disordered babble (licence). Drawing on modern and pre-modern theories of the uses and function of gossip, the book argues that, despite this ambivalence in descriptions of the tongue, gossip and idle talk were finally excluded from the public sphere by being associated with the feminine and the irrational.




The Corinthian Catastrophe


Book Description

An outstanding exposition that contrasts scriptural principles with charismatic practices based on the experience of the church at Corinth. Also available in Spanish!




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