Speaking in Tongues: A Critical Historical Examination

Speaking in Tongues: A Critical Historical Examination PDF

Author: Philip E. Blosser

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2022-09-16

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 1666797626

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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

Speaking in Tongues: A Critical Historical Examination, Volume 2 PDF

Author: Philip E. Blosser

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2023-08-21

Total Pages: 225

ISBN-13: 166673778X

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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.

Glossolalia and the Problem of Language

Glossolalia and the Problem of Language PDF

Author: Nicholas Harkness

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2021-03-19

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 022674955X

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Speaking in tongues, also known as glossolalia, has long been a subject of curiosity as well as vigorous theological debate. A worldwide phenomenon that spans multiple Christian traditions, glossolalia is both celebrated as a supernatural gift and condemned as semiotic alchemy. For some it is mystical speech that exceeds what words can do, and for others it is mere gibberish, empty of meaning. At the heart of these differences is glossolalia’s puzzling relationship to language. ? Glossolalia and the Problem of Language investigates speaking in tongues in South Korea, where it is practiced widely across denominations and congregations. Nicholas Harkness shows how the popularity of glossolalia in Korea lies at the intersection of numerous, often competing social forces, interwoven religious legacies, and spiritual desires that have been amplified by Christianity’s massive institutionalization. As evangelicalism continues to spread worldwide, Glossolalia and the Problem of Language analyzes one of its most enigmatic practices while marking a major advancement in our understanding of the power of language and its limits.

Joseph Smale

Joseph Smale PDF

Author: Tim Welch

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2014-02-01

Total Pages: 297

ISBN-13: 162564678X

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Joseph Smale (1867-1926) was one of the central figures involved in the chain of events leading to the 1906 Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles. This important study presents the diverse influences which impacted Smale - formative years in Britain, growing up in Cornwall and Somerset amid a rhythm of Wesleyan revival; Reformed theological training under the tutelage of C.H. Spurgeon in London; migration to the United States; plus hard experiences in the 'school of anxiety' - which were all precursors for Smale's influential role as champion of Pentecostal revival. Smale's leadership will resonate with every church leader who prays for revival and longs for more Holy Spirit power experimentally. Smale's 'Moses' designation and biography have profound relevance for the church in the present day.

William J. Seymour and the Origins of Global Pentecostalism

William J. Seymour and the Origins of Global Pentecostalism PDF

Author: Gastón Espinosa

Publisher: Duke University Press

Published: 2014-08-11

Total Pages: 520

ISBN-13: 0822376873

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In 1906, William J. Seymour (1870–1922) preached Pentecostal revival at the Azusa Street mission in Los Angeles. From these and other humble origins the movement has blossomed to 631 million people around the world. Gastón Espinosa provides new insight into the life and ministry of Seymour, the Azusa Street revival, and Seymour's influence on global Pentecostal origins. After defining key terms and concepts, he surveys the changing interpretations of Seymour over the past 100 years, critically engages them in a biography, and then provides an unparalleled collection of primary sources, all in a single volume. He pays particular attention to race relations, Seymour's paradigmatic global influence from 1906 to 1912, and the break between Seymour and Charles Parham, another founder of Pentecostalism. Espinosa's fragmentation thesis argues that the Pentecostal propensity to invoke direct unmediated experiences with the Holy Spirit empowers ordinary people to break the bottle of denominationalism and to rapidly indigenize and spread their message. The 104 primary sources include all of Seymour's extant writings in full and without alteration and some of Parham's theological, social, and racial writings, which help explain why the two parted company. To capture the revival's diversity and global influence, this book includes Black, Latino, Swedish, and Irish testimonies, along with those of missionaries and leaders who spread Seymour's vision of Pentecostalism globally.

Contesting Languages

Contesting Languages PDF

Author: Ekaputra Tupamahu

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2022-11-04

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 0197581129

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How did the Apostle Paul navigate the language differences in Corinth? In Contesting Languages: Heteroglossia and the Politics of Language in the Early Church, Ekaputra Tupamahu investigates Corinthian tongue-speech as a site of political struggle. Tupamahu demonstrates that conceptualizing speaking in tongues as ecstatic, unintelligible expressions is an interpretive invention of German romantic-nationalist scholarship. Instead, drawing on Mikhail Bakhtin's theories of language, Tupamahu finds two forces of language at work in the New Testament: a centripetalizing force of monolingualism, which attempts to force heterogeneous languages into a singular linguistic form, and a countervailing centrifugal force that diverse languages unleash. The city of Corinth in the Roman period was a multilingual city-a sociolinguistic context that Tupamahu argues should be taken seriously when reading Paul's directives concerning Corinthians "speaking in tongues". Grounding his reading of the texts in the experiences of immigrants who speak minority languages, Tupamahu reads Paul's prohibition against the use of tongues in public gathering as a form of cultural domination. This book offers a competing social imagination, in which tongues as a heteroglossic phenomenon promises a radically hospitable space and a new socio-linguistic vision marked by unending difference.

William J. Seymour

William J. Seymour PDF

Author: Larry Martin

Publisher: Whitaker House

Published: 2024-01-30

Total Pages: 334

ISBN-13:

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William J. Seymour: Pentecostal Trailblazer and Revered Pastor of the Azusa Street Revival​ is a rich and thorough account of the life and ministry of William J. Seymour. Seymour, the son of former slaves rose to prominence within the Pentecostal movement as the pastor of the Azusa Street Revival. Dr. Larry Martin’s extensive research and knowledge of William J. Seymour provides a solid framework for the telling of Seymour’s life, ministry, and the history of the Azusa Street Revival. Martin’s work not only provides details on Seymour’s life and ministry but also recounts the racism and discrimination that Seymour faced in everyday life and within the church. Seymour followed God's call to Los Angeles and in 1906 the Azusa Street Revival began ushering in a new era of Pentecostal revival in Los Angeles and spreading throughout the country and around the world. While the revival's prominence over the year's waned due to ongoing prejudice, divergent ministry objectives and attempted takeovers the worldwide Pentecostal movement remains unbowed and strong over a century later. Dr. Martin is part of the Pentecostal legacy and has over fifty years devoted to ministry as a pastor, educator, and evangelist. He is the author of several books on the Azusa Street Revival, the history of early Pentecostals, and the Pentecostal Church of God. Includes photos of Seymour's life and ministry.

William Seymour- a Biography

William Seymour- a Biography PDF

Author: Craig Borlase

Publisher: Charisma Media

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 1591859085

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A passionate believer of racial integration, William Seymour led the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles in 1906, credited for launching the American Pentecostal Movement and several denominations. In this biography, Borlase captures his intriguing story.

Speaking in Tongues: A Critical Historical Examination, Volume 2

Speaking in Tongues: A Critical Historical Examination, Volume 2 PDF

Author: Philip E. Blosser

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2023-08-21

Total Pages: 206

ISBN-13: 1666797642

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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.