Pentecostals, Tongues, and Higher Criticism

The relationship between Pentecostals and the historians Philip Schaff, F. W. Farrar and others along with their influence on the modern definition.

How the traditional definition of tongues all but died and was replaced by the Pentecostal practice of Pentecostal glossolalia — an umbrella term for the language of adoration, singing and writing in tongues, and/or a private act of devotion between a person and God.

Before 1906 there were only two definitions of speaking in tongues within the traditional Christian practice:

  • Tongues as the spontaneous ability to speak a foreign language not previously learned or known beforehand
  • tongues as someone speaking in one voice and everyone hearing in their own language.

In the 1800’s, this definition expanded:

  • Firstly, redefined as glossolalia: an ecstatic state that produces speech-like syllables. A social phenomenon, not a miraculous one
  • then modern Pentecostal tongues: a spiritualization of the glossolalia doctrine.

The Azusa Street revival began as a traditional Christian tongues doctrine: many people imbued with the Holy Spirit were perceived with the ability to speak a foreign language spontaneously. The Azusa people and those involved in the greater grassroots holiness movement saw this as a sign to evangelize all the nations. This theology was called Missionary Tongues.

As previously noted in Pentecostal Tongues in Crisis, Pentecostal missionaries arrived at their foreign destinations and discovered they did not have this supernatural linguistic ability.

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Early Pentecostal Books on Speaking in Tongues

A brief survey of books on speaking in tongues from the early 1900s on speaking in tongues from a holiness/pentecostal perspective Early Pentecostal Books These books were selected because the authors were either contributors or eyewitnesses to the Pentecostalism of the early 1900s. This fits in with the goals of the Gift of Tongues Project …

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Early Pentecostal Tongues: Notes and Quotes

Quips and quotes taken from early Pentecostal based newsletters, papers, digests, and other material found about the doctrine of tongues.

Early Pentecostal writings are essential historical pieces concerning a significant shift in this doctrine. They demonstrate the change from the traditional idea of miraculously speaking or hearing in a foreign language to a variety of expressions under the umbrella of glossolalia.

These early pentecostal citations are given to show the problem and resolution that early Pentecostals faced regarding this doctrine. Their original concept of tongues as a miraculous endowment for missionary purposes had miserably failed. A shift in emphasis and definition was eagerly sought for.

The following quotes work through this early tension. They are not homogenous, and it is often difficult to trace continuity. However, they do work towards embracing the thoughts of higher criticists such as Philip Schaff. The majority of dictionaries and commentaries were dominated by these academics who much favored tongues as glossolalia. Glossolalia is a frenzied condition that produced inarticulate sounds. Sounds that may or may not correlate with language. Pentecostals eventually redefined the higher criticism definition according to their own experience and religious symbolism.

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