Glossolalia (Christianity)

In this heightened state of consciousness, an individual or group (jubilatio) utters unintelligible but fluent sounds in praise or prayer to God. Although the individual has control of whether or not to speak, how fast or slowly, how loudly or quietly, the actual sounds are not of his volition, God praising God through the medium of the individual without him knowing what he is saying. Regarded as one of the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit, it is said to benefit the individual practising it and those for whom he prays, although an interpreter is normally necessary for individual public prayer in this manner. Interpretation is not translation but making the meaning clear, as in interpreting dreams. There are exceptions to the need for an interpreter when the person speaking in tongues utters intelligible sounds not of his volition but in a comprehensible language, perhaps a language unknown to the speaker. Speaking in tongues is said to be a clear channel between the speaker and God, since it is the Spirit praying and He knows what should be prayed for better than the speaker himself. It is a form of devotion which assists in building up the individual spiritually, a praying in the spirit rather than the mind, and thus not subject to the distractions and temptations that arise when praying in a known language.

A frequently-mentioned phenomenon in the early Church, glossolalia has again come into prominence as the most obvious of the gifts which may be received on baptism in the Holy Spirit and much valued in charismatic and pentecostal circles.