the gift of tongues

the gift of tongues

The ability to speak foreign languages one has never learned, one of the miracles of the Holy Spirit. The Vatican is sending a team of priests fluent in over 30 languages to investigate whether a woman truly has the gift of tongues.
See also: gift, of, tongue
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

the gift of tongues

the power of speaking in unknown languages, regarded as one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
When the disciples of Jesus were filled with the Holy Spirit after Pentecost (Acts 2:1–4), the gift of tongues was one of the ways in which this phenomenon manifested itself; compare with speak in tongues (at speak).
See also: gift, of, tongue
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • drive (one) out of office
  • force (one) out of office
  • force out of office
  • give (one) (one's) head
  • give head
  • give somebody their head
  • give someone their head
  • cooking for one
  • 1FTR
  • as one door closes, another one opens
References in classic literature
But Jerry, four-legged, smooth-coated, Irish terrier that he was, had the gift of tongues. If he could not teach languages, at least he could learn languages.
People, who finding out they have no ambition in life by way of trade or profession, get hold of a Bible, scream some strange words they themselves do not understand, and claim they have the gift of tongues, therefore, they are gifted by the Holy Spirit to lead the flock of Jesus.
Is the gift of tongues thus a charism to miraculously speak other languages?
The book is the culmination of years of study, application, and personal experience in areas operating in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, prophecies, the gift of tongues, and the gift of impartation.
The three key language-related Bible passages (Gen 11.1-9 on the tower of Babel, Acts 2 on the beginning of the Eschaton, and 1 Cor 14.6-12, where Paul writes on the gift of tongues) provide the biblical framework for Bibliander's views on language and theology (XXV).
Write out your homily: A great number of preachers feel that they have the gift of tongues from the Holy Spirit--while few do.
Edited by Dai Smith, the two collections range from Arthur Machen's The Gift of Tongues, Rhys Davies' Dark World and Caradoc Evans' The Coffin to Leonora Brito's Dat's Love, Gee Williams' Blood Etc and Rachel Trezise's Fresh Apples.
As well as the gift of curry he has the gift of tongues being fluent in Hindi, Gujerati, Nepal, Punjabi, Urdu and Arabic.
(32) Ultimately based on a view expressed in Gregory the Great's Regula Pastoralis, the idea of a correlation between the gift of tongues and the gifts of wisdom and eloquence was current and influential in Anglo-Saxon England.
He examines possible Pentecostal contributions to current conversations between theology and science, mentioning glossolalia, the gift of tongues, a significant charism in Pentecostal theology, as a kind of leitmotiv for the diversity that could genuinely inform theological dialogues rooted in pneumatology.
The Gift of Tongues: Women's Xenoglossia in the Later Middle Ages.
At the fountainhead event of the gift of tongues, Pentecost, Mary has traditionally been held to be present with the disciples (as depicted on the cover of the book).
He tells us how one student tried to introduce him to her experience of the gift of tongues. His style impacts the reader more like poetry than prose, and the print is arranged accordingly.
There is obvious fictional invention as when the Magi travel at supernatural speed to their appointed meeting in the desert or when the star gives them the gift of tongues to speak and understand other languages--not to mention the presence of magic.
He opens his book with a quotation from Northrop Frye: "A big library really has the gift of tongues & vast potencies of telepathic communication." In such hallowed space, the dead speak to the living and the unborn.