1 Tongues: The Controversial Gift

The twentieth century has witnessed the rapid growth of two remarkable religious movements, the Pentecostal Movement and the Charismatic Movement. The Pentecostal Movement, which appeared first, attracted widespread attention in the early 1900’s. This was due largely to the revival services that took place at the Azusa Street Mission in Los Angeles beginning in 1906.1 A little more than fifty years later the Charismatic Movement burst on the scene claiming the same spiritual manifestations that had previously appeared in the Pentecostal Movement. The charismatic renewal, sometimes called neo-pentecostalism, began to make its way into the mainline Protestant churches in the late 1950’s and by 1967 had infiltrated the Roman Catholic Church as well.2 The impact of these movements has been profound. The sheer number of people involved indicates that. In 1995 the number of adherents to the Pentecostal Movement was said to be 410 million.3 These movements have touched the world. While there are differences between the two movements, the one thing that they hold in common is the claim to fresh outpourings of the Holy Spirit, complete with healings and the other gifts of the Spirit, including the gift of tongues. The gift of tongues, referred to by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians chapters 12-14, is perhaps the most controversial of the gifts of the Spirit. The reported reappearance of this gift in the Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements has produced responses ranging from joy to horror. The purpose of this paper i