Your Brain on Tongues
This story about speaking in tongues is going to be on ABC's Nightline tonight.
The part that really fascinates me is this:
"At the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Andrew Newberg is looking for an explanation for what most regard as inexplicable.
Newberg is determined to unravel the relationship between faith and science by studying what happens in the brain during the deepest moments of faith. He's recently published a study looking at the brain activity of eight Americans who speak in tongues.
"If we are really going to look at this powerful force in human history of religion and spirituality, I think we really have to take a look at how that affects our brain — what's changing or turning on and off in our brain," Newberg said.
Newberg used CT scans to look at what happens in the brain's control center when someone speaks in tongues.
In earlier studies, he looked at what happens in the brains of Buddhist monks meditating and Franciscan nuns praying. The results were quite different from what happens in the brains of people speaking in tongues, whose brains, he found, went quiet in the frontal lobe — the part of the brain right behind the forehead that's considered the brain's control center.
"When they are actually engaged in this whole very intense spiritual practice … their frontal lobes tend to go down in activity. … It is very consistent with the kind of experience they have, because they say that they're not in charge. [They say] it's the voice of God, it's the spirit of God that is moving through them," said Newberg.
"Whatever is coming out of their mouth is not what they are purposefully or willfully trying to do. And that's in fairly stark contrast to the people who are — like the Buddhist and Franciscan nuns — in prayer, because they are very intensely focused and in those individuals the frontal lobes actually increase activity."
Fascinating although I don't quite know what to make of it. What do you think?
Oh, and just FYI, since I do get this question from time to time. Yes, speaking in tongues is recognized by the Catholic Church as legitimate although I know the idea makes many Catholics intensely uncomfortable. There are only two charisms named in the catechism: one is healing, the other is tongues.
posted by Sherry W @ 2:56 PM
6 Comments
6 Comments:
"There are only two charisms named in the catechism: one is healing, the other is tongues."
Where in the catechism is speaking in tongues mentioned? I couldn't find the passage
It in CCC, 2003. It is named along with miracles - which I forgot.
2003 - Grace is first and foremost the gift of the Spirit who justifies and sanctifies us. But grace also includes the gifts that the Spirit grants us to associate us with his work, to enable us to collaborate in the salvation of others and in the growth of the Body of Christ, the Church. There are sacramental graces, gifts proper to the different sacraments. There are furthermore special graces, also called charisms after the Greek term used by St. Paul and meaning "favor," "gratuitous gift," "benefit." Whatever their character - sometimes it is extraordinary, such as the gift of miracles or of tongues - charisms are oriented toward sanctifying grace and are intended for the common good of the Church. They are at the service of charity which builds up the Church.
A quick search of the Catechism turns up the following list of charisms explicitly mentioned in the text:
healing (#1508), infallibility (#890 and #2035), prophecy (#2004), service (#2004), exhortation (#2004), giving (#2004), giving aid (#2004), mercy (#2004).
These last ones in #2004 are referred to as "special graces", but from the context of #2003 ("There are furthermore special graces, also called charisms...") they appear to be classified as charisms.
... along with miracles (#2003) and tongues (#2003)
I'm not interested in arguing finer points of taxonomy of graces here, but rather a "lateral thinking" approach - how does this news gel with another brain structure story from yesterday, with more troubling connotations:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/22/science/22brain.html?hp
"The new study ... (~~demonstrates~~) that a very specific kind of emotion-based judgment is altered when the region (~~forehead behind the eyes~~) is offline. In extreme circumstances, people with the injury will even endorse suffocating an infant if that would save more lives."
N.B. (~tilda~ denotes my additions)
Perhaps the lack of activity isn't such a good thing... perhaps not God but other spirits take charge in the vacuum?
I hold firm to my conviction that the grace spoken of in Acts as the gift of tongues is a manifestation of the 'communio' action of the Holy Spirit, that is its mutuality, a reciprocal benefit in the parties involved. In other words the gift could only be confirmed as having been conferred by the bystanders who comprehended the words spoken in the tongues used.
The mumbo-jumbo that passes for "tongues" in charismatic movements, is just that, a party trick. Only when the audience makes any sense of the message spoken can we speak of a communication of Divine Providence. In much the same way, those graced by Marian apparations tell of how Our Lady spoke in local dialect and a national tongue, with the seers not comprehending the meaning of certain terms, e.g. Bernadette Soubirous recounting "I am the Immaculate Conception" evidencing the innocence of the soul receiving the grace offered and the veracity of the message.
Post a Comment
<< Home