The Earliest View of New Testament Tongues

This book is a groundbreaking paradigm-shifting look at the languages/tongues problem (???????/gl?ssai) of the first-century AD Corinthian church. It adduces that in a multilingual setting new converts were expressing themselves in their native dialect without translation where Koine Greek was not yet overriding all regional dialects. This cuts against the idea that tongues were supernatural earthly languages an idea not found before AD 160. Vellacott also argues against the view that tongues were heavenly languages as claimed by Pentecostals/Charismatics. This he says is a novel trend started about 145 years ago by German higher-critical scholars and seized upon after the 1906-15 Los Angeles Azusa Street Revival's supposed supernatural earthly languages proved to be a mirage whereupon a redefinition to heavenly/angelic non-earthly languages occurred. This book soundly establishes the credibility of an ancient third view regarding tongues--that they were non-supernatural learned earthly languages. The author endeavors to demonstrate that this is the earliest known Christian interpretation of New Testament tongues/languages.