In a recent post, I noted that the faithful yearn for empirical affirmations of their ineffable beliefs. For Evangelicals and Pentecostals (“charismatics”) one of these supposed affirmations can be found in church nearly every Sunday: someone will begin “speaking in tongues” and then someone else will proffer an “interpretation” of the message from God-Jesus or [...]
Entries Tagged as 'glossolalia'
Tower of Linguistic Babel: Speaking in Tongues
April 15th, 2010 · No Comments · Cognition and Religion, Emotions and Religion, Ritual and Religion
“Speaking in Tongues” — Translating the Spirit
March 9th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Cognition and Religion, Ritual and Religion
“Speaking in Tongues” or glossolalia is most often associated with Pentecostal worship. It is an interesting phenomenon that has attracted some scholarly interest. A recent post over at Brain Blogger discusses some of these studies:
Research performed in the 1980s at Denison University by the late anthropologist Felicitas Goodman led to a theory that glossolalia was [...]