by Kenneth L. Gentry (Author)
The charismatic movement is a major force in evangelicalism. Tongues-speaking is perhaps its most recognizable and controversial feature. In this book Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr., analyzes biblical tongues-speaking by investigating four questions: (1) What was the structural form of tongues? (2) What was the specific content of tongues? (3) What was the purpose of tongues? (4) How long were tongues intended to last? The author demonstrates from Scripture that tongues were a miraculous endowment whereby the gifted recipient could speak in a human language he had never studied and that they involved inspired revelation from God. He shows that tongues were given as a temporary feature of the period of overlap between the old covenant and the new covenant and that they were a sign of the coming destruction of the old covenant temple in Jerusalem. Tongues were intended only for that first century period.