A History of Glossolalia: Did it exist before 1879?

To find out if the words ecstasy or glossolalia existed before the 1800s and how these terms have developed over time.

As described previously in A History of Glossolalia: Origins, it was approximately 1830 that the introduction of tongues as glossolalia first occurred in German religious circles, but it was not universal. Neither was the concept found in the realm of English works until Farrar introduced it in 1879. The previous article cited tertiary source materials with few references to primary and secondary ones.

A further examination of the primary, secondary, and additional tertiary sourcebooks is required to substantiate the addition of glossolalia as a tongues doctrine after 1879. Indeed, after careful review of such materials, this was found to be true. The Gift of Tongues Project likes to substantiate all claims. Therefore, the rest of the document is for providing the actual evidence. The article then goes one step further to document how this influence affects us today.

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A History of Glossolalia: Origins

Image of the five pioneers of the glossolalia doctrine
*There are a few more but these ones are the best documented

How glossolalia entered the christian doctrine of tongues vernacular and became the entrenched form of interpretation.

The 1800s was the era of a significant transition in the interpretation and understanding of the doctrine of tongues. This epoch was the time when the traditional interpretation which consisted of a supernatural spontaneous utterance of a foreign language gave way to enigmatic themes such as ecstatic utterances, prophetic utterance, ecstasy, and glossolalia.

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Introduction to the History of Glossolalia

An examination on why the traditional interpretations of the miracle of tongues all but died and was replaced by tongues as ecstasy or ecstatic utterance.

Rohde’s Psyche: The Cult of Souls

Online text of Erwin Rohde’s Psyche: The Cult of Souls and the Belief in Immortality among the Greeks, chapter 9.

The Irvingites and the Gift of Tongues

The strange but fascinating story about Edward Irving, his followers known as the Irvingites, their speaking in tongues, and their setting the foundation for the modern tongues movement.

Edward Irving before a pulpit

Introduction

A little less than 200 years ago, Edward Irving and his followers were the front and center of the protestant faith around the world.

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