Gerald Hovenden: Speaking in Tongues
Next, Hovenden turns to inspired speech within the Old Testament, Inter-Testamental, and Early Christian eras. After examining both Old Testament and Inter-Testamental periods and concludes that there is no obvious evidence that tongues was a religious phenomenon in these periods. There is no doubt that the inspired speech of these eras was the result of divine revelation, but it was more often than not “delivered in a lucid and sober manner” (39). It is worthwhile to note that Hovenden does not hold to the position that the Spirit and prophetic activity ceased to be active in the ITP. In this he follows Max Turner and David Aune against notable Pentecostal scholars Robert Menzies and Roger Stronstad.
While the first section of his book has focused on what tongues was not (i.e. not equivalent with Pagan ecstatic or Jewish prophetic speech), he now turns his attention to an examination of the New Testament texts in order to ascertain a clearer picture of a first century Christian consideration of tongues.
He begins his discussion of the Lukan theology of tongues by dealing with historical issues. Is Luke’s account of the day of Pentecost historical? Is the phenomenon that Luke describes on that day glossolalia (unknown languages, perhaps gibberish), xenolalia (known languages), or akolalia (a miracle of hearing)? Do tongues, for Luke, serve a symbolic or practical purpose? These are some of the tough questions that Hovenden tackles in this section. The only one that he draws a clear conclusion on is that tongues, for Luke, is xenolalia.
In the next section on Luke Hovenden turns to theological questions surrounding Acts 2. He seeks to identify the theological framework of Acts 2 and whether or not this framework is programmatic for the rest of Acts. Hovenden then provides a summary of the various ways that scholars have viewed the Lukan theological framework. The different views summarized include Acts 2 as covenant renewal, reversal of the Tower of Babel, birthday of the church, and empowering of the church for mission. Hovenden is wise to point out that none of the positions fully capture the essence of what Luke records as happening on the day of Pentecost. Each theory is legitimate, but none hold a hermeneutical monopoly. He concludes that tongues are not likely a Lukan invention but historically linked to Pentecost. Luke interprets tongues as a manifestation of the Spirit of prophecy (94).
Hovenden then offer three suggestions as to the significance of tongues in Acts. The first is that incidences of tongues act as “landmarks” in the expansion of the earliest church. Basically this position argues that the occurrences of tongues mark the major stages of growth in the early church from the Jews to the Samaritans to the Gentiles to the disciples of John the Baptist (100). This would seem to fit with the expansion theology of Luke (Acts 1:8b; c.f. Luke 24:44-47).
Category: Spirit, Winter 2005
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