With over 279 million members worldwide, Pentecostalism is among the fastest growing religious movements in the 21st century. Taking its name from the story of the Pentecost in the Book of Acts, Pentecostals are especially known for the spiritual practice of “Speaking in Tongues.” In the ancient church as described in the letters of Paul and in Pentecostalism today, “Speaking in Tongues” involves one person who gives themselves over to the Spirit to speak sounds they believe are a language they do not know. Next, a second individual is given the spiritual gift of “Interpretation of Tongues,” believing that they are translating the foreign words into their own language. This process is known as “glossolalia.” The story of Pentecost meanwhile, describes a second understanding of “Tongues” known as “xenoglossy.” With xenoglossy, people believe that one speaker speaks in a language the hearers do not know, and yet the audience all hears the message in their own language (like Star Trek’s “universal translator”). John Hamer of Toronto Centre Place will look at the practice and history of Speaking in Tongues from Antiquity to the present.