As in, “Speaking in.”
Now, honestly, this is a particular religious topic I have a hard time getting my brain around. I am … well, I’m reluctant to say “skeptical,” but I’ve never actually witnessed speaking in tongues (or, as it’s more commonly called today, “private prayer language,” technically “glossolalia“), and it always seemed kind of … well, goofy. It’s certainly not part of my own religious practice, and it’s really not something one runs
across much, if at all, in the Episcopal Church.
It is, however, definitely scriptural — 1 Cor. 12:8-11, for example.
8To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the
interpretation of tongues. 11All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.
Acts 2 is the other big “speaking in tongues” section of the Bible.
So we’re taking fundamental, scriptural, straight-out-of-the-Bible kind of stuff here. And if there would be anyone who would shy away from it, you would expect it to be queasily intellectual types like, well, us Episcopalians. You’d expect more Bible-thumping evangelical charismatic types like, say, the Baptists, to be all over it.
Trustees at a Baptist seminary have put it in writing: They will not tolerate any promotion of speaking in tongues on their campus.
The 36-1 vote Tuesday came nearly two months after the Rev. Dwight McKissic of Arlington said during a chapel service that he sometimes speaks in tongues while praying. Paige Patterson, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, responded by not allowing the video of McKissic’s sermon to be posted online or saved in the seminary’s archives.
It states: “Southwestern will not knowingly endorse in any way, advertise, or commend the conclusions of the contemporary charismatic movement including private prayer language. Neither will Southwestern knowingly employ professors or administrators who promote such practices.”
McKissic called for the Southern Baptist Convention to weigh in on the matter.
[…] In McKissic’s sermon at the school’s chapel, he describes experiencing a “private prayer language.”
Leaders at the seminary have said the statement conflicts with the SBC’s International Mission Board, which voted in November to ban missionaries from speaking in tongues in private. Previously, missionaries were discouraged from speaking in tongues publicly, but private prayer was not monitored.
Huh? I mean, I can understand non-Christians (heck, a lot of Christians, too) just simply not believing in the whole tongues thang — but for a seminary, a Baptist seminary to ban the practice or even talking about it … is just too strange for words. In whatever language.
It’s hard to tell from the article whether it’s a theological judgment or just brand differentiation.
Speaking in tongues is common among Pentecostals, whose more exuberant brand of Christianity is spreading in the United States and in foreign countries where Southern Baptist missionaries work.
“I have opposed (speaking in tongues) for all of these years because I think it’s an erroneous interpretation of the Bible,” Patterson said. “Southern Baptists traditionally have stood against what we feel like are the excesses of the charismatic movement. All we’re doing is restating where we’ve always been.”
Patterson said he defends the right of other Christians to believe in speaking in tongues. “But don’t wear a Yankee uniform when you play for the Mets,” he said.
The Rev. Eric Redmond of Temple Hills, Md., a board member, said trustees made the right decision. “We interpret the scriptures in such a way that we do not see room for a private prayer language and we’re saying we will not waver on that,” Redmond said.
Strange. Again, not something I do, or even that I know I believe in — but I find myself reflexively bristling at someone telling people it’s not allowed.
(via J-Walk)