Basic HTML Version
October 197
l
The
PLAIN TRUTH
~~Tongues
Spealdng-"
AStrange History
T
HE UTTERANCE
of uniotelligible
sounds has certainly not been
confined to Christianity. The Old
Testament, as mentioned, speaks of
"wizards who peep and mutter."
Tongues seem to have beeo far from
unusual among the pagans of
Greece, Rome, and other areas. The
Greek historian Herodotus spoke of
those who "cave when the god seizes"
them (IV, 79). But, as the accorn–
panying artide shows, the description
of the New Testament phenornenon
was unique and not in any way con–
nected with the "tongues" practices.
It
was almost a century and a half
after the New Testament discussion
before anything else was written on
the subject. Then, the Catholic writer
Iraeneus mentioned that the practice
of "tongues speaking" was current in
his day, though he did not describe it
in detail. Further sporadic references
and little else is found among the
later writings of the "Church
Fathers." In sorne cases, it is difficult
to know what took place, since the
writers did not indude a detailed
account.
The Montaoists, cornposing a sec–
ond-century, short-lived "heretical"
movernent, placed great store in
tongues speaking. One writer has
comrnented on parallels between this
group and the modero "Pentecostal"
religions. The practice has always
continued privately among the East–
ern Orthodox. But, except for a few
isolated cases, it seems to have
otherwise died out
in
Western
Christianity.
Aside from these few isolated sto–
ríes of "tongues" among Catholics, it
was not until after the Protestant Re–
formation that the practice is
recorded in any great detail. This
time it occurred rnainly among
Protestants. Just at the turn of tbe
18th century, a brief but intense
period of tongues speaking arose
among the persecuted Protestant
Huguenots in the Cevennes moun–
taios of France. It was alrnost
entirely children who had tbe "gift"
- so that they became known as
the "little prophets of Cevennes."
Another period of glossolalia
began about 1830 and existed mainly
arnong the followers of Edward Ir·
ving, known as
lrvingites.
This
English group continued with the
practice for alrnost half a century,
tbough Irving died not long after the
movernent began. But it, too,
dwindled to nothing by the begin–
ning of the 20th century.
The "Pentecostal" rnovement grew
out of the "Holiness" carnpaign fol–
lowing the American Civil War. The
Holiness rnovement was a reaction
against the rising liberalisrn
in
the
churches of the time.
It
affirmed the
literal inspiration of the Bible, the
need for a personal experience, of
conversion, and moral living. But it
eventually distinguished itself fur–
ther by a doctrine of the "baptisrn of
fire."
The name of Charles F. Parham
more than any other, is associated
with the founding of Pentecostalism.
As a part of the Holiness drive, he
opened a Bible college in Kansas.
Through a special study by hirnself
and sorne of his students, he con–
cluded that "speaking in other
tongues" was a sign of being bap–
tized with the Holy Spirit. His group
sought this "gift" and soon found it.
The Pentecostal movernent had
begun.
The experiencc of Parham and his
students carne in the year 1900. By
1906 the moverneot had established
itself in Los Angeles. Here it began
to flourish. Its nurnbers were quickly
increased when tongue-speaking
im–
rnigrants from Armenia joined with
thern.
As
with rnost religious move–
rnents, the unity of the Pentecostals
did not last long. Soon there were
disagreemeots over theological and
doctrinal questions. These resulted in
a division into various denomjna–
tions soon after 1910. This general
state of things continued until the
rise of neo-Pentecostalisrn in the 50's
and 60's.
23
Holy Spirit. As one Pentecostal put it,
"The supernatural utterance by the
Holy Spirit . . . Tongues speaking is a
sort of miracle...."
But scientists aod psychologists, many
of thern also theologians, tend to take a
less spiritual, more sober and earthly
approach. Dr. Kildahl feels it comes
through an "ernotional repression"
which allows a fluency which could not
be produced by conscious effort.
Anthropologist F. D. Goodman
writes that "the glossolalist does in–
deed behave differently from ordinary–
language speakers.... We may now sug–
gest that glossolalia be defined as an
event of vocalization uttered while the
speaker is in a state of dissociation
termed
TRANCE"
("Phonetic Analysis
of Glossolalia in Four Cultural Set–
tings,"
Jomnal for the Scientific St11dy
of Religion
VIII, 1969, pp. 227-39).
He later states even more explicitly that
the data of studies give strong evidence
that tongue speaking is the product of a
u¡,·ance" slate.
Dr. Kildahl pointed out in his study,
"Many references could be cited in order
to illustrate the relationship between
glossolalia and certain hypootic states ....
It
will be noted the
[sic]
hypnosis and
glossolalia are introduced in a similar
rnanner." Just as a hypnotic subject rnust
put bis "trust" in the hypnotist, so the
tongues speaker rnust place his in the
"authority" figure. Hypnosis and tongue
speaking are rernarkably similar, almost
as if the glossolalist had allowcd him–
self
to
be hypnotized.
Research by Dr. Samarin, now of the
Center for Linguistic Studies at the Uni–
versity of Toronto, shows that glosso–
lalia is not at all hard to acquire: "The
only necessary, and perhaps sufficient,
requirernent for becorning a glossolalist
seerns to be a profound desire on the
part of an individual for a new or bet–
ter religious experience" ("Giossolalia
as Learned Behaviour,"
Canadian Jour–
nal of Theology,
15, 1969, pp. 60-64).
The Thirst for a N ew
Religious Experience
W hy the suddeo new interest in
glossolalia? As Dr. Samarin said
in
the
quote just given, people are looking for
a "new and better religious experience."
One high church official, a Pente-