Glossolalia (from the Greek, "γλώσσα" (glossa), tongue and "λαλώ" (lalô), to speak) comprises the utterance of what appears (to the casual listener) either as an unknown foreign language (xenoglossia), simply nonsense syllables, or utterance of an unknown mystical language; the utterances sometimes occur as part of religious worship (religious glossolalia). Skeptics dismiss these cases as simply being in a state of trance, self-hypnotism or religious ecstasy. It is notable that in Charismatic/Pentecosta ...

Including:

• Glossolalia - Linguistic view
• Glossolalia - Psychological view
• Glossolalia - Christian view of speaking in tongues
• Glossolalia - Non-Christian glossolalia
• Glossolalia - Biblical references to speaking in tongues

Read more here: » Glossolalia: Encyclopedia - Glossolalia

Certain Christians (see below) regard the act of speaking in tongues, as a gift of God through the Holy Spirit. As described in the Book of Acts and 1 Corinthians, it is one of holy Gifts of the Spirit given by God to the faithful on the Day of Pentecost. Other religious faiths also incorporate glossolalia as a component of worship traditions. From the Christian point of view, "glossolalia" is an incorrect term from contemporary language of empirical classification (or neologism) to describe an experience in which human ...

See also:

Glossolalia, Glossolalia - Linguistic view, Glossolalia - Psychological view, Glossolalia - Christian view of speaking in tongues, Glossolalia - Non-Christian glossolalia, Glossolalia - Biblical references to speaking in tongues

Read more here: » Glossolalia: Encyclopedia II - Glossolalia - Christian view of speaking in tongues

Glossolalia

(Greek. glossa, "tongue," and lalein, "to speak")

Speaking in tongues. The act of speaking in a "language" either unknown or incomprehensible to the speaker. This practice may have played a significant role in early Christianity. In the late twentieth century, a similar phenomenon is practiced in certain Pentecostal and charismatic traditions.

(See also: Glossolalia , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Glossolalia:

Unintelligible speech generally uttered in a dissociated or trance state. Also known as 'speaking in tongues'.

See also Xenoglossy .

(See also: Glossolalia , Psychic, Psychic Dictionary, Parapsychology, Parapsychology Dictionary)

Xenoglossia

The ability to speak in an unlearned and unheard foreign language. It is associated with past-life recall, states of trance or hypnosis and mediumship.

The phenomenon is very rare. Many so-called instances turn out to be cases where the foreign language has been learned at some stage and then forgotten. When xenoglossia does occur, cases where individuals recite foreign words and phrases without understanding their meaning are far more common than cases where an individual can actually converse intelligently in the supposedly unknown language.

See Glossolalia.

(See also: Xenoglossia , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Possession

1)    A ritual trance state, learned through extensive training and achieved in religious ceremonies, during which individuals are said to experience the indwelling presence of powerful spirits. Possession may be an involuntary condition or one deliberately sought. It may be a peripheral experience, judged negatively by the culture, for which an expert in curing (exorcism) is required. It may be the central experience of a religious group, highly valued and desired, for which an expert guide sometimes serves as an enabler. Possession is a relatively widespread phenomenon found in religions ranging from Shinto to Santeria, but the experience of or belief in possession occurs only under specific conditions. Possession trance cannot occur unless the religious community acknowledges both the independent existence of spirits and the reality of possession. Other factors supportive of possession include a high degree of rigidity and differentiation in social roles outside the religion, the acceptance of psychological vulnerability for the sake of wisdom, and a religious worldview including multiple spirit worlds.

2)    The traditional Christian and popular Western view of possession limits it to the unwanted presence of demons and evil spirits who maltreat the human host, although glossolalia, or speaking in tongues, and the experience of being "moved by the Spirit" are related phenomena. Other religions, with more flexible understanding of the varieties of spiritual experience, encourage the direct communication with them that possession rituals allow; possession is thus an important element in many indigenous religions of Africa, Asia, and the Americas, as well as in the African-influenced new religions of Umbanda, Santeria, and Voodoo. In those communities, greater and lesser spirits are worshiped directly when they descend into the bodies of devotees or specially trained mediums; once among their followers, the spirits transform the behavior and appearance of the one possessed and offer transcendent advice for the spiritual and material problems of their congregations.

(See also: Possession , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Xenoglossy:

The ability to speak or write in a language that has not been learned.

See also Glossolalia .

(See also: Xenoglossy , Psychic, Psychic Dictionary, Parapsychology, Parapsychology Dictionary)

A dictionary of Parapsychology. Please note that words in grey are hyperlinked to a corresponding archive with articles related to that particular topic.

A dictionary of parapsychology. Please note that words in grey are hyperlinked to a corresponding archive with articles related to that particular topic.

Glossolalia

(Greek. glossa, "tongue," and lalein, "to speak")

Speaking in tongues. The act of speaking in a "language" either unknown or incomprehensible to the speaker. This practice may have played a significant role in early Christianity. In the late twentieth century, a similar phenomenon is practiced in certain Pentecostal and charismatic traditions.

(See also: Glossolalia , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

A dictionary of parapsychology. Please note that words in grey are hyperlinked to a corresponding archive with articles related to that particular topic.

An artificial or constructed language (known colloquially as a conlang among aficionados), is a language whose phonology, grammar and vocabulary are specifically devised by an individual or small group, rather than having naturally evolved as part of a culture as with natural languages. Some are designed for use in human communication (usually to function as international auxiliary languages), but others are created for use in fiction, linguistic experimentation, secrecy (codes), or for the experience of doing so (artistic languages, language games). These ...

Including:

• Constructed language - Overview
• Constructed language - History

Read more here: » Constructed language: Encyclopedia - Constructed language

Grammatical speculation is documented from Classical Antiquity, with Plato's Cratylus. However the suggested mechanisms of grammar were designed to explain existing languages (Latin, Greek, Sanskrit), and not aiming at constructing new grammars. Roughly contemporary to Plato, in his descriptive grammar of Sanskrit, Pāṇini constructed a meta-linguistic formalism, so that the text of his grammar may be considere ...

See also:

Constructed language, Constructed language - Overview, Constructed language - History

Read more here: » Constructed language: Encyclopedia II - Constructed language - History

Constructed languages are often divided into a priori languages, in which much of the grammar and vocabulary is created from scratch (using the author's imagination or automatic computational means), and a posteriori languages, where the grammar and vocabulary are derived from one or more natural languages. Fictional and experimental languages can also be naturalistic, in the sense that they are meant to sound natural and, if derived a posteriori, they try to follow natural rules of phonological, lex ...

See also:

Constructed language, Constructed language - Overview, Constructed language - History

Read more here: » Constructed language: Encyclopedia II - Constructed language - Overview

For the religious phenomenon, see Glossolalia. Tongues is the ninth album by acid rapper Esham, released in 2001 (see 2001 in music). Tongues - Track listing. "Walkin on da Flatline" (Santos, Smith) - 2:50 "Slippin out Amerikkka" (Mujahid, Santos, Smith) - 2:06 "The D." (Santos, Smith) - 1:16 "I'm Dead" (Smith) - 2:24 "Panic Attack" (Bruce, Smith) - 2:49 "Chemical Imbalance" (Santos, Smith) - 1:43 "God" (Santos, Smith) - 2:26Including:

• Tongues - Track listing
• Tongues - Personnel
• Tongues - Production
• Tongues - Charts

Read more here: » Tongues: Encyclopedia - Tongues

Prayer is an effort to communicate with God, or to some deity or deities, or another form of spiritual entity, or otherwise, either to offer praise, to make a request, or simply to express one's thoughts and emotions. Prayer - Approaches. There are a variety of approaches to understanding prayer: The belief that the prayer is listened to and may or may not get a response; The belief that prayer is intended to inculcate certain attitudes in the one who prays, rather than to influence th ...

Including:

• Prayer - Approaches
• Prayer - The act of prayer
• Prayer - Prayer in the Abrahamic religions
• Prayer - Prayer in the Bible
• Prayer - Jewish prayer
• Prayer - Christian prayer
• Prayer - Islamic prayer
• Prayer - Bahá'í prayer
• Prayer - Prayer in other religions
• Prayer - Hindu Prayer
• Prayer - Buddhism
• Prayer - Prayer in Jainism
• Prayer - Neopagan Prayers
• Prayer - Philosophical paradoxes of prayer
• Prayer - The educational approach
• Prayer - The Kabbalistic view of prayer
• Prayer - The rationalist approach
• Prayer - The experiential approach
• Prayer - Experimental evaluation of prayer
• Prayer - Historical polytheistic prayer
• Prayer - Prevalence
• Prayer - References and footnotes

Read more here: » Prayer: Encyclopedia - Prayer

There are a number of philosophical paradoxes involving prayer to an omnipotent God, namely: If a person deserves the recipient of the prayer to give him the thing he prays for, why doesn't he receive it, even without prayer? And if a person is not deserving of it, then even if that person does pray and request it, should it be given just because of his prayer? Why should it be necessary to pray with speech? Doesn't the recipient know the thoughts of all people? If the recipient is omniscient (all-knowing) then ...

See also:

Prayer, Prayer - Approaches, Prayer - The act of prayer, Prayer - Prayer in the Abrahamic religions, Prayer - Prayer in the Bible, Prayer - Jewish prayer, Prayer - Christian prayer, Prayer - Islamic prayer, Prayer - Bahá'í prayer, Prayer - Prayer in other religions, Prayer - Hindu Prayer, Prayer - Buddhism, Prayer - Prayer in Jainism, Prayer - Neopagan Prayers, Prayer - Philosophical paradoxes of prayer, Prayer - The educational approach, Prayer - The Kabbalistic view of prayer, Prayer - The rationalist approach, Prayer - The experiential approach, Prayer - Experimental evaluation of prayer, Prayer - Historical polytheistic prayer, Prayer - Prevalence, Prayer - References and footnotes

Read more here: » Prayer: Encyclopedia II - Prayer - Philosophical paradoxes of prayer

Ayyavazhi Religion - Bible stories - Biblical names - Born-again Christian laypeople - Buddhist terms and concepts - Cathedrals - Christian denominations - Christians - Deities - Demons - Di Indigetes (Roman gods & goddesses) - Dramatic portrayals of Jesus Christ - Founders of major religions - Greek mythological characters - Hinduism - Islamic terms - Jesus-related articles - Major world religions - Monasteries dissolved by Henry VIII of England - Mormonism - Muslims - Names for the Biblical nameless - Ninety-nine n ...

See also:

List of religious topics, List of religious topics - List of lists, List of religious topics - 0-9, List of religious topics - A, List of religious topics - B, List of religious topics - C, List of religious topics - D, List of religious topics - E, List of religious topics - F, List of religious topics - G, List of religious topics - H, List of religious topics - I, List of religious topics - J, List of religious topics - K, List of religious topics - L, List of religious topics - M, List of religious topics - N, List of religious topics - O, List of religious topics - P, List of religious topics - Q, List of religious topics - R, List of religious topics - S, List of religious topics - T, List of religious topics - U, List of religious topics - V, List of religious topics - W, List of religious topics - X, List of religious topics - Y, List of religious topics - Z

Read more here: » List of religious topics: Encyclopedia II - List of religious topics - List of lists

In ancient religions of Greeks and Romans (Ancient Greek religion, Roman religion), ceremonial prayer was highly formulaic and ritualized. The Iguvine Tables contain a supplication that can be translated, "If anything was said improperly, if anything was done improperly, let it be as if it were done correctly." The formalism and formulaic nature of these prayers led them to be written down in language that may have only been partially understood by the writer, and our texts of these prayers may in fact be garbled. Prayers in Etruscan ...

See also:

Prayer, Prayer - Approaches, Prayer - The act of prayer, Prayer - Prayer in the Abrahamic religions, Prayer - Prayer in the Bible, Prayer - Jewish prayer, Prayer - Christian prayer, Prayer - Islamic prayer, Prayer - Bahá'í prayer, Prayer - Prayer in other religions, Prayer - Hindu Prayer, Prayer - Buddhism, Prayer - Prayer in Jainism, Prayer - Neopagan Prayers, Prayer - Philosophical paradoxes of prayer, Prayer - The educational approach, Prayer - The Kabbalistic view of prayer, Prayer - The rationalist approach, Prayer - The experiential approach, Prayer - Experimental evaluation of prayer, Prayer - Historical polytheistic prayer, Prayer - Prevalence, Prayer - References and footnotes

Read more here: » Prayer: Encyclopedia II - Prayer - Historical polytheistic prayer

A famous statistical experiment to determine whether or not prayer was effective was conducted by Francis Galton in 1872. Galton hypothetized that if prayer was effective, members of the British Royal family would live longer, given that thousands prayed for their wellbeing every Sunday. He therefore compared longetivity of the British Royal family with that of the general population, and found no difference. While the experiment was probably intended to satirize, and suffered from a number of confounders, it set the precedent for a numb ...

See also:

Prayer, Prayer - Approaches, Prayer - The act of prayer, Prayer - Prayer in the Abrahamic religions, Prayer - Prayer in the Bible, Prayer - Jewish prayer, Prayer - Christian prayer, Prayer - Islamic prayer, Prayer - Bahá'í prayer, Prayer - Prayer in other religions, Prayer - Hindu Prayer, Prayer - Buddhism, Prayer - Prayer in Jainism, Prayer - Neopagan Prayers, Prayer - Philosophical paradoxes of prayer, Prayer - The educational approach, Prayer - The Kabbalistic view of prayer, Prayer - The rationalist approach, Prayer - The experiential approach, Prayer - Experimental evaluation of prayer, Prayer - Historical polytheistic prayer, Prayer - Prevalence, Prayer - References and footnotes

Read more here: » Prayer: Encyclopedia II - Prayer - Experimental evaluation of prayer