Hildegard of Bingen and Her New Language

The myth or reality of Hildegard of Bingen speaking in tongues.

Hildegard of Bingen was a remarkable twelfth-century German abbess–a rock star in her time. She even invented a primitive language for her convent. Was it glossolalia, speaking in tongues, singing in tongues, or jubilation?

She is a figure whom some academic Pentecostal whisper support. They allude that Hildegard was part of a tradition passed to them.

An examination reveals that her speaking or singing in tongues or similar rites is a myth. It has nothing to do with ecstasy and everything about her intellectual creativity. She did invent a primitive language, but it was not glossolalia.

Of course, readers of the Gift of Tongues Project won’t accept such a brief explanation. A more detailed description follows.

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Perceptions of Pentecost Through the Ages

An infographic that outlines the history of Pentecost from inception until today.

The graphic contains the significant four streams of thought throughout the centuries: The Catholic, Traditional Protestant, Conservative Protestant, and the Glossolalia Stories.

There is a dominant assumption that speaking in tongues died out in the early church and then reappeared with the Pentecostal awakening in the late 1800s/early 1900s. Not true. Almost every generation has wanted to claim Pentecost for themselves throughout history.

See the following paths of tongues through the centuries for details.

Poster on the different perceptions of Pentecost through the ages

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Utterance Versus Gift of Tongues

Image of four early Pentecostal leaders and three magazines

An analysis of early Pentecostal theology and their distinction between utterance and the gift of tongues.

This article is an addendum to Solutions to the Pentecostal Crisis. An exploration about why early Pentecostals changed the definition of tongues. One from miraculously speaking a foreign language to an alternative version.

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Ambrosiaster on the Tongues of Corinth

The Ambrosiaster Latin text with its beginnings in the fourth-century gives insight and much-needed clues on the mystery tongues of Corinth.

The Ambrosiaster author(s) believed Paul was describing the adoption of a synagogue rite. It consequently led to the misuse of Hebrew and Aramaic to an audience that did not understand these languages. There was no awareness of ancient Pythian prophetesses, ecstasy, Montanists, or glossolalia. Nor was there an association with speaking in tongues as a sign of a true believer.

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A History of Pentecost as One Sound and Many Languages Heard

A history of Pentecost being the miracle of one voice emitted and the sounds converted into a relevant human language while in the air or in the minds of the hearers.

This theory was a part of the christian doctrine of tongues that existed at least in the third century, worked its way into the seventh, and has a spotty appearance after this time.

The following is the result of collating, compiling, examining, researching and comparing a wide-range of Patristic authors, a sampling of Jewish literature, and a small dose of classical Greek writings found on the topic.

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Francisco Suárez and His Sources on the Gift of Tongues

Franciscus Suarez

Abstract

This paper considers the grace of the gift of tongues both as it is currently practiced among many members of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal (CCR) and how it has traditionally been understood in medieval and post-medieval theology. The paper especially considers the perspective of Francisco Suárez on the subject insofar as he, as in most matters, is able to frame the status quaestionis of the topic and presents a uniform view of the Catholic theological tradition’s understanding of the gift. Ultimately, I point out that there are significant points of divergence between the nature of this gift as the CCR understands and practices it and as it has traditionally been understood historically.

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St. Ephrem on Speaking in Tongues

The Ordination of Ephrem by Basil

The fourth-century Syrian St. Ephrem and the christian rite of speaking in tongues.

The legend attached to St. Ephrem asserts the Pentecostal rite was the supernatural ability to speak in a foreign language. The Corinthian reference by the real St. Ephrem was a liturgical one relating to everyday language.

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The Pentecostal Rewrite of the History of Speaking in Tongues

Two Pentecostal Missionaries listening to Philip Schaff Cartoon

How Pentecostals built their historical framework for their doctrine of tongues from Higher Criticism literature–a necessary but unlikely relationship.

This merging of two opposed systems, one dependent on the supernatural, and the other focused on the rational and logical with no reference to any divine entity, makes for one of the most major shifts in the history of the christian doctrine of tongues.

As shown throughout the Gift of Tongues Project, tongues as an ecstatic utterance was a new addition to the doctrine of tongues in the 19th century. There is no historical antecedent for ecstatic utterance, glossolalia and their variances before this era. Nor is there a connection with the majority of ecclesiastical writings over 1800 years which had a different trajectory.

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The Dead Sea Scrolls and Angelic Tongues

The Community Rule Dead Sea Scroll Text first page snippet with a magnifying glass in front

Examining the nature, function, and history of angels in the Dead Sea Scrolls and two intertestamental books to find a connection with St. Paul’s reference of the tongues of men and angels.

Paul and the authors behind the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Testament of Job, and the Book of Enoch are products of a milieu that believed in the divine interplay between angels and the worshipper. So, if one wants to find an answer to Paul’s mysterious reference about angelic tongues, the highest probability exists in these texts.

The subject is especially important to those of the Renewalist persuasion (Pentecostals, Charismatics, and Third Wave Christians). They believe that the tongues of angels Paul refers to is to the mystical rite of speaking in tongues. The explanation is this: when a person is divinely inspired and begins speaking tongues, they are speaking in a heavenly language that angels speak.

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Greek, Hellenic Judaism and the problem tongues of Corinth

A look at the problem tongues of Corinth being an internal linguistic struggle between Doric, Aeolic, and Attic Greeks. This is part 2 of an 7 part series on the mystery tongues of Corinth. Part 1, The Role of Hebrew in the Jewish Aramaic World, covered how Hebrew became the language of religion and worship …

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