The Mormon Gift of Tongues

The early Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, founded in 1830, embraced speaking in tongues and similar spiritual manifestations as evidence of divine gifts. Members regularly experienced states that resembled possession, speaking languages they claimed not to know and receiving prophetic revelations. These experiences were central to early Mormon religious life and distinguished the movement from mainstream Christianity.

Theological Foundation

Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, taught that spiritual gifts described in the New Testament continued to operate in the modern church. These included prophecy, healing, and speaking in tongues. The restoration of these gifts was evidence that the true church had been restored through Smith.

Mormon theology provided a framework for understanding possession-like experiences as positive rather than demonic. The Holy Ghost could inspire believers to speak divine truths, including in languages unknown to the speaker. This was a gift to be cultivated, not feared.

Early Manifestations

From the church’s earliest days, members experienced spiritual manifestations. At the dedication of the Kirtland Temple in 1836, many members spoke in tongues, prophesied, and experienced visions. Some reported seeing angels. The meeting lasted for hours as spiritual power seemed to sweep through the congregation.

These experiences were not isolated. Throughout the 1830s and 1840s, Mormon congregations regularly witnessed members entering altered states and delivering messages they attributed to divine inspiration. Women as well as men exercised spiritual gifts.

Brigham Young Era

Under Brigham Young’s leadership, speaking in tongues continued to be a regular feature of Mormon worship. Young himself reportedly spoke in tongues and interpreted others’ utterances. He taught that the gift was genuine and valuable when properly exercised.

However, Young also introduced controls on spiritual manifestations. Concerned about disorder and false revelation, he taught that tongues should be interpreted and that all spiritual gifts should operate within proper church authority. The gift remained, but institutional structures managed its expression.

Women and Spiritual Gifts

Mormon women were particularly active in exercising spiritual gifts, including speaking in tongues. Women’s meetings often featured prophecy and tongues. Women laid hands on the sick and blessed each other with spiritual power.

This female participation was notable in the nineteenth century, when women’s religious leadership was often restricted. Mormon theology created space for women’s spiritual authority through gifts that bypassed formal priesthood structures.

Descriptions of the Experience

Accounts of speaking in tongues describe experiences similar to those in other possession contexts. Speakers felt themselves taken over by a power outside themselves. They spoke words that emerged without conscious thought. Some described pleasant sensations; others found the experience overwhelming.

The languages spoken varied. Some claimed to speak Hebrew, reformed Egyptian (the purported language of the Book of Mormon), or Adamic (the language of Adam). Others spoke languages no one could identify. Interpretation was sometimes provided by other members who claimed the gift.

Decline

Speaking in tongues gradually declined in Mormon practice during the late nineteenth century. Several factors contributed: church leaders’ concerns about disorder, the end of the charismatic pioneer era, and the church’s desire for respectability as it sought statehood for Utah.

By the twentieth century, tongues had largely disappeared from Mormon worship, though the church never formally rejected the gift. It simply faded from regular practice as the church became more institutionalized and mainstream.

Comparison with Other Traditions

Mormon speaking in tongues shared characteristics with similar phenomena in other Christian traditions and with possession experiences cross-culturally. The sense of being taken over, the production of unusual speech, and the religious interpretation of the experience appear in many contexts.

What distinguished the Mormon experience was its theological framework, which understood tongues as a positive gift to be cultivated and its institutional setting within a new religious movement establishing its identity.

Legacy

The history of speaking in tongues in early Mormonism demonstrates how possession-like experiences can be integrated into religious practice as positive rather than threatening. When theological and social structures support such experiences, they flourish; when those structures change, they decline.

The Mormon case also shows the relationship between spiritual experience and religious authority. The gifts validated the church’s claims but also required management to prevent challenges to leadership. This tension between charismatic experience and institutional order appears in many religious contexts.