Description
Something big is happening to Christianity-something so appealing to so many that it may alter the shape of the religious world. That something is the charismatic movement, involving glossolalia, or tongues speaking. Until recent years this phenomenon was mostly confined to store-front churches, and practiced by people derided by their enemies as “Holy Rollers.” Now tongues speaking has invaded the mainline “respectable” Protestant churches and even Roman Catholicism – a development which would have seemed impossible only a few years ago. Does modern tongues speaking exactly reproduce the Pentecostal experience of the early Christian church? Are “tongues” the same as foreign languages? Is tongues speaking always a supernatural gift of the Holy Spirit? Can the recipient do anything to induce tongues speaking? Do charismatics from different language areas all speak the same kind of “tongues”? Is the “gift of tongues” practiced by members of other world religions besides Christianity? The charismatic revival is widely hailed as the key to cooperation and eventual union of Christian Churches. Are these predictions justified, and is such a union desirable? These and many other fascinating questions find clear answers in Charisma of the Spirit.
