History

ofthe

Gift

Tongues

by Charles A. Sullivan

IntroductionA Short LinguisticAnalysisEstablishinga ScholarlyDirection

A History of the Gift of Tongues

BY CHARLES A. SULLIVAN January 2nd, 2010 Beta Rev. 003To critically outline a deep and comprehensive portrait of the gift of tongues in the Churchfrom its beginnings to the present.

Table of Contents

For a full outline of this project and completed chapters, go to:http://charlesasullivan.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/a-history-of-the-gift-of-tongues-project-outline

1. Introduction

Many have observed a friend, relative or acquaintance, or at one time who has personallyexperienced the mystical rite of speaking in tongues. Whether seeing or going through it,one will eventually ask,

"what was that?

"There are a multitude of conclusions on the subject, depending on one's professional realmof discipline. To the psychiatric world, it is simply a psychological and social phenomenon.To the modern religious observer it is a supernatural phenomenon that cannot be evaluatedthrough scientiﬁc or historical methods. The Greek Bible Scholar ﬁnds the answer in thesyntax of the controversial Bible texts. The fundamentalist religious observer believes it is anactivity that died out 2000 years ago. The liberal scholar concludes it is part of an ecstaticstate that can be traced to the ancient Greek prophets. Some have tried to assert that themiracle didn't consist in ones speaking but in the audience's hearing. At least one person

__________________________________________________________________For up-to-date announcements of this book, status of new chapters and sub-discussions, go towww.charlesasullivan.wordpress.com

attempted to explain it as a musical experience and the general non-religious audience tendsto think it is simply just babbling.All of the above are generally based on experience, and few on historical facts.There have been thousands, if not hundreds of thousands books, published on this subject.Many readers would be led to believe that this topic has been exhausted with no clearwinner in any camp. Why then another book on this subject?This book is different because it seeks to identify, cite and explain the topic using ahistorical-critical methodology. This is something sorely lacking up until now.Specific references to ancient authorities on the subject lack any comprehensiveness in themajority of publications, which has left a large vacuum in bringing finality. Also, as one willdiscover while following this project, it is also a problem of not enough ancient writerspopularly translated into English. This is one of the major contributors to the nebulousnessof the definition that exists today.This book attempts to translate and supply as many of the relative texts throughout historyand bring some cohesive meaning.This book is not so much a theological journey as it is a historical-critical one. It attempts totraverse through the epochs of tongues expressions by comparing various manuscripts,authors and trends. It also tries to chronologize the passing of the tradition through thecenturies.Please note before proceeding to read:• Everyone is invited to read but its level of difficulty is quite high. This isintended for an audience who are from a religious background familiar withthe controversy along with the Biblical literature related to it; especially theBook of Acts, Chapter 2 and I Corinthians Chapter 14.

A History of the Gift of Tongues. Chapters 1-32

__________________________________________________________________For up-to-date announcements of this book, status of new chapters and sub-discussions, go towww.charlesasullivan.wordpress.com