Editing Speaking in tongues (section)

===Classical antiquity===
It was a commonplace idea within the [[Ancient]] world that divine beings spoke languages different from human languages, and historians of religion have identified references to [[esoteric]] speech in Greco-Roman literature that resemble glossolalia, sometimes explained as angelic or [[divine language]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Petruzzello |first1=Melissa |title=Glossolalia |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/glossolalia |website=Encyclopedia Britannice |publisher=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=16 June 2023}}</ref> An example is the account in the [[Testament of Job]], a non-canonical elaboration of the [[Book of Job]], where the daughters of [[Job (biblical figure)|Job]] are described as being given sashes enabling them to speak and sing in angelic languages.{{Sfn|Martin|1995|pp=88–89}}

According to Dale B. Martin, glossolalia was accorded high status in the ancient world due to its association with the divine. [[Alexander of Abonoteichus]] may have exhibited glossolalia during his episodes of prophetic ecstasy.{{Sfn|Martin|1995|p=90}} [[Neoplatonist]] philosopher [[Iamblichus]] linked glossolalia to [[prophecy]], writing that prophecy was divine [[spirit possession]] that "emits words which are not understood by those that utter them; for they pronounce them, as it is said, with an insane mouth (''mainomenό stomati'') and are wholly subservient, and entirely yield themselves to the energy of the predominating God".{{Sfn|Martin|1995|p=91}}

In his writings on [[early Christianity]], the Greek philosopher [[Celsus]] includes an account of Christian glossolalia. Celsus describes prophecies made by several Christians in Palestine and Phoenicia of which he writes, "Having brandished these threats they then go on to add incomprehensible, incoherent, and utterly obscure utterances, the meaning of which no intelligent person could discover: for they are meaningless and nonsensical, and give a chance for any fool or sorcerer to take the words in whatever sense he likes".{{Sfn|Martin|1995|p=90}}

References to speaking in tongues by the [[Church Fathers]] are rare. Except for Irenaeus' 2nd-century reference to many in the church speaking all kinds of languages "through the Spirit", and Tertullian's reference in 207 AD to the spiritual gift of interpretation of tongues being encountered in his day, there are no other known first-hand accounts of glossolalia, and very few second-hand accounts among their writings.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Benjamin B. |last=Warfield |author-link=Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield |year=1918 |title=Counterfeit Miracles |location=New York |publisher=[[Charles Scribner's Sons]] |oclc=3977281 |page=[https://archive.org/details/counterfeitmira02warfgoog/page/n21 10] |quote=The writings of the so-called Apostolic Fathers contain no clear and certain allusions to miracle working or to the exercise of the charismatic gifts, contemporaneously with themselves.|isbn=978-0851511665}}</ref>