According to respected historians, speaking in tongues has occurred among many groups (from 1500 to 1900):
Anabaptists, 1500’s, Europe. One of the four main branches of the early Protestant movement (along with Lutherans, Reformed, and Anglicans). Unlike other Protestants, the Anabaptists emphasized the restoration of apostolic patterns of worship and lifestyle, the importance of a conversion experience, baptism of believers only, baptism by immersion, total separation of church and state, the power to overcome sin after conversion, and the need to live a holy life.
A prominent Anabaptist leader named Menno Simons, whose followers became known as Mennonites, wrote about speaking in tongues as if it were expected evidence of receiving the Holy Ghost.
Many early Anabaptists worshiped quite demonstratively; in the words of a secular history text some participated in “very excited, ‘enthusiastic,’ evangelical practices . . . what Americans know as ‘holy rolling’ . . . The congregation sometimes shouted and danced, and always sang hymns with great fervor.” In view of their doctrine and worship, it is not at all surprising that speaking in tongues occurred among early Anabaptists.
(2) Prophecy movement, 1500’s, England.
(3) Camisards, 1600’s and 1700’s, southern France (often called the Prophets of the Cevennes).
A group of Huguenots (French Protestants), were mostly peasants, who resisted the attempts of Louis XIV’s government to convert them to Roman Catholicism. Many were imprisoned, tortured, and martyred. Observers reported tongues, uneducated peasants and young children prophesying in pure, elegant French, enthusiastic, demonstrative worship, and people “seized by the Spirit.”
(4) Quakers, 1600’s, England.30 A group that emphasized spiritual experience and waited on the moving of the Spirit in their services. The early Quakers received their name because they literally “quaked” under the power of the Spirit.
(5) Jansenists, 1600’s and 1700’s, France.31 A Catholic reform movement.
(6) Pietists (including Moravians), late 1600’s, Germany.32 The Pietists emphasized spiritual experience and Christian living. 289
(7) Converts of Camisards, early 1700’s, England. Some Camisards fled to England to avoid persecution, making converts there.
(8) Methodists, 1700’s, England, particularly in the revivals of Wesley and Whitefield and in later American revivalsticed.Wesley himself believed that the gifts of the Spirit had practically disappeared but that a fully restored church would have them again.When a certain Dr. Middleton wrote that the gift of tongues was absent from later church history, Wesley replied that (1) many ancient writings are no longer extant, (2) many Christians wrote no books, (3) the ante-Nicene fathers do not say tongues ceased with the apostles, and (4) just because tongues was not specifically recorded does not mean it was not practiced He said, “Many may have spoken with new tongues, of whom this is not recorded; at least, the records are lost in a course of so many years.” In reply to the objection that tongues did not exist in his time, Wesley replied, “It has been heard of more than once, no farther off than the valleys of Dauphiny” [southern France].We should also note the strong emphasis on repentance and physical demonstrations in the Methodist revivals. One hostile historian wrote, “Extreme emotional disturbances, ecstasies and bodily seizures of various sorts were common in the Wesleyan Revival of the eighteenth century in England,” with people in Wesley’s meetings exhibiting “violent motor reactions . . . convulsions and shakings” and screaming. Similar phenomena occurred in the Great Awakening, a period of American revival in the 1700’s led by Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, and others.
(9) Revivals and Camp Meetings, 1800’s, America. It is reported that physical demonstrations occurred in later American revivals, called the Second Awakening, which began with camp meetings in Kentucky and swept across the American frontier. These meetings were conducted by Methodists, Baptists, some Presbyterians, and later the Holiness movement. With a strong emphasis on repentance and free, demonstrative worship, it is not surprising that many people received the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues. A great revival swept the University of Georgia in 1800-1801, and the students “shouted and talked in unknown tongues.” In many cases tongues speaking went unreported because observers did not recognize it or its significance and did not distinguish it from other physical phenomena. One historian said, “Throughout the nineteenth century speaking in unknown tongues occurred occasionally in the revivals and camp meetings that dotted the countryside. Perhaps the phenomenon was considered just another of the many evidences that one had been saved or sanctified.”
(10) Lutherans, early 1800’s, Germany. This began among followers of Gustav von Below.
(11) Irvingites, 1800’s, England and America. The Spirit fell among the London congregation of a prominent Church of Scotland pastor named Edward Irving, beginning with Mary Campbell and James and Margaret MacDonald. Soon after, Irvingites formed the Catholic Apostolic Church, which emphasized the gifts of the Spirit. This revival also gave birth to the Christain Catholic Church and the New Apostolic Church, and there were Irvingites in the traditional denominations. Unfortunately, these groups gradually lost the gifts of the Spirit, degenerated into ritualism, suffered rapid decline, and are almost nonexistent today. Church historian Philip Schaff (1819-1893) wrote of observing speaking in tongues in an Irvingite church in New York: “Several years ago I witness this phenomenon in an Irvingite congregation in New York; the words were broken, ejaculatory, and unintelligible, but uttered in abnormal, startling, impressive sounds, in a state of apparent unconsciousness and rapture, and without any control over the tongue, which was seized as it were by a foreign power. A friend and colleague (Dr. Briggs), who witnessed it in 1879 in the principal Irvingite church in London, received the same impression.”
(12) Plymouth Brethren, 1800’s, England.
(13) Readers (Lasare), 1841-43, Sweden.50
(14) Revivals, 1859, Ireland.51
(15) Holiness people, 1800’s, Tennessee and North Carolina. We should note that one German historian attributed speaking in tongues to Martin Luther, and a friend of Dwight Moody described some of Moody’s followers speaking in tongues. However, it is unclear whether either source definitely meant speaking in tongues as we know it.
The Westminster Confession, an important statement of Presbyterian Calvinism adopted by English Puritans in 1648, specifically required that prayer be made in a known tongue.
Twentieth Century The modern Pentecostal movement began on January 1, 1901, in a small Bible college in Topeka, Kansas, operated by Charles Parham, a minister with a background in the Holiness movement. The students began to seek the baptism of the Spirit with tongues, and Agnes Ozman was the first student to experience speaking in tongues. The revival soon spread to many denominations and around the world. Since then speaking in tongues has been verified and documented many times.
In the late 1950’s, a revival of tongues speaking, known as the charismatic or neo-Pentecostal movement, began among non-Pentecostal churches and has spread throughout the Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Orthodox world. Some charismatics have joined Pentecostal churches, others have formed their own churches, and many have remained in their traditional denominations.
Anabaptists, 1500’s, Europe. One of the four main branches of the early Protestant movement (along with Lutherans, Reformed, and Anglicans). Unlike other Protestants, the Anabaptists emphasized the restoration of apostolic patterns of worship and lifestyle, the importance of a conversion experience, baptism of believers only, baptism by immersion, total separation of church and state, the power to overcome sin after conversion, and the need to live a holy life.
A prominent Anabaptist leader named Menno Simons, whose followers became known as Mennonites, wrote about speaking in tongues as if it were expected evidence of receiving the Holy Ghost.
Many early Anabaptists worshiped quite demonstratively; in the words of a secular history text some participated in “very excited, ‘enthusiastic,’ evangelical practices . . . what Americans know as ‘holy rolling’ . . . The congregation sometimes shouted and danced, and always sang hymns with great fervor.” In view of their doctrine and worship, it is not at all surprising that speaking in tongues occurred among early Anabaptists.
(2) Prophecy movement, 1500’s, England.
(3) Camisards, 1600’s and 1700’s, southern France (often called the Prophets of the Cevennes).
A group of Huguenots (French Protestants), were mostly peasants, who resisted the attempts of Louis XIV’s government to convert them to Roman Catholicism. Many were imprisoned, tortured, and martyred. Observers reported tongues, uneducated peasants and young children prophesying in pure, elegant French, enthusiastic, demonstrative worship, and people “seized by the Spirit.”
(4) Quakers, 1600’s, England.30 A group that emphasized spiritual experience and waited on the moving of the Spirit in their services. The early Quakers received their name because they literally “quaked” under the power of the Spirit.
(5) Jansenists, 1600’s and 1700’s, France.31 A Catholic reform movement.
(6) Pietists (including Moravians), late 1600’s, Germany.32 The Pietists emphasized spiritual experience and Christian living. 289
(7) Converts of Camisards, early 1700’s, England. Some Camisards fled to England to avoid persecution, making converts there.
(8) Methodists, 1700’s, England, particularly in the revivals of Wesley and Whitefield and in later American revivalsticed.Wesley himself believed that the gifts of the Spirit had practically disappeared but that a fully restored church would have them again.When a certain Dr. Middleton wrote that the gift of tongues was absent from later church history, Wesley replied that (1) many ancient writings are no longer extant, (2) many Christians wrote no books, (3) the ante-Nicene fathers do not say tongues ceased with the apostles, and (4) just because tongues was not specifically recorded does not mean it was not practiced He said, “Many may have spoken with new tongues, of whom this is not recorded; at least, the records are lost in a course of so many years.” In reply to the objection that tongues did not exist in his time, Wesley replied, “It has been heard of more than once, no farther off than the valleys of Dauphiny” [southern France].We should also note the strong emphasis on repentance and physical demonstrations in the Methodist revivals. One hostile historian wrote, “Extreme emotional disturbances, ecstasies and bodily seizures of various sorts were common in the Wesleyan Revival of the eighteenth century in England,” with people in Wesley’s meetings exhibiting “violent motor reactions . . . convulsions and shakings” and screaming. Similar phenomena occurred in the Great Awakening, a period of American revival in the 1700’s led by Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, and others.
(9) Revivals and Camp Meetings, 1800’s, America. It is reported that physical demonstrations occurred in later American revivals, called the Second Awakening, which began with camp meetings in Kentucky and swept across the American frontier. These meetings were conducted by Methodists, Baptists, some Presbyterians, and later the Holiness movement. With a strong emphasis on repentance and free, demonstrative worship, it is not surprising that many people received the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues. A great revival swept the University of Georgia in 1800-1801, and the students “shouted and talked in unknown tongues.” In many cases tongues speaking went unreported because observers did not recognize it or its significance and did not distinguish it from other physical phenomena. One historian said, “Throughout the nineteenth century speaking in unknown tongues occurred occasionally in the revivals and camp meetings that dotted the countryside. Perhaps the phenomenon was considered just another of the many evidences that one had been saved or sanctified.”
(10) Lutherans, early 1800’s, Germany. This began among followers of Gustav von Below.
(11) Irvingites, 1800’s, England and America. The Spirit fell among the London congregation of a prominent Church of Scotland pastor named Edward Irving, beginning with Mary Campbell and James and Margaret MacDonald. Soon after, Irvingites formed the Catholic Apostolic Church, which emphasized the gifts of the Spirit. This revival also gave birth to the Christain Catholic Church and the New Apostolic Church, and there were Irvingites in the traditional denominations. Unfortunately, these groups gradually lost the gifts of the Spirit, degenerated into ritualism, suffered rapid decline, and are almost nonexistent today. Church historian Philip Schaff (1819-1893) wrote of observing speaking in tongues in an Irvingite church in New York: “Several years ago I witness this phenomenon in an Irvingite congregation in New York; the words were broken, ejaculatory, and unintelligible, but uttered in abnormal, startling, impressive sounds, in a state of apparent unconsciousness and rapture, and without any control over the tongue, which was seized as it were by a foreign power. A friend and colleague (Dr. Briggs), who witnessed it in 1879 in the principal Irvingite church in London, received the same impression.”
(12) Plymouth Brethren, 1800’s, England.
(13) Readers (Lasare), 1841-43, Sweden.50
(14) Revivals, 1859, Ireland.51
(15) Holiness people, 1800’s, Tennessee and North Carolina. We should note that one German historian attributed speaking in tongues to Martin Luther, and a friend of Dwight Moody described some of Moody’s followers speaking in tongues. However, it is unclear whether either source definitely meant speaking in tongues as we know it.
The Westminster Confession, an important statement of Presbyterian Calvinism adopted by English Puritans in 1648, specifically required that prayer be made in a known tongue.
Twentieth Century The modern Pentecostal movement began on January 1, 1901, in a small Bible college in Topeka, Kansas, operated by Charles Parham, a minister with a background in the Holiness movement. The students began to seek the baptism of the Spirit with tongues, and Agnes Ozman was the first student to experience speaking in tongues. The revival soon spread to many denominations and around the world. Since then speaking in tongues has been verified and documented many times.
In the late 1950’s, a revival of tongues speaking, known as the charismatic or neo-Pentecostal movement, began among non-Pentecostal churches and has spread throughout the Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Orthodox world. Some charismatics have joined Pentecostal churches, others have formed their own churches, and many have remained in their traditional denominations.
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