Tongue speaking;: An experiment in spiritual experience

The book is about tongue speaking history from the first day of Pentecostal thru the centuries and ends when it was written, in the middle of the 1960 ties. Did you know that tongue speaking has always been present in the Orthodox Church, but that it in the Catholic Church, and many protestant churches it has been seen as a sign of evil? Simple facts like this is scattered all around the book. The author writes about many different epochs and cultures. He is trying to explain some of the reasons of why tongue speaking is alien in churches. One of his theories has to do with viewing of the world in a materialistic vs. a spiritual way. It is also a case study, both of persons and of churches. The author has kept a correspondence with Jung about tongue speaking, which he refers to. Jung regards it as a way to get in touch with the spiritual reality, and in that way makes a person more whole as a being. The book is interesting, exiting, very well written and easy read.

I am surprised no one has reviewed this book here, because it's a 39-year-old book (I have a first edition hardback copy, and it's one of the books I will always keep).I consider Kelsey's book to be one of the best and most important books written on the Christian experience of speaking in tongues. That Upton Sinclair would write the forward, and say that the book is "a well-researched and well-written book; a work of scholarship and discernment," says more about the worth of this book than anything I could ever write.Kelsey himself went off into strange theological and spiritual places, which disheartened and concerned his former admirers and friends like LeAnne Payne, and I would not endorse some of the other books he's written (his book on Christian healing is good, though). But I say -- if you can find a copy of this book, GET IT. Read it. The "Charismatic Movement" somewhat officially began in 1960, and it's had its ups and downs, but the reality of the Holy Spirit and the Charismatic manifestations continues to change peoples' lives today.For another good book on the subject, read John Sherrill's THEY SPEAK WITH OTHER TONGUES, also first published in 1964.