Transposition Summary and Analysis

In this piece, Lewis discusses spiritual gifts, specifically the gift of tongues, or the ability of one to speak in a language that he does not understand. Lewis offers the history of the tongues phenomena, which first occurs in the first century church at Jerusalem.

The talent, Lewis says, was necessary to quickly spread the doctrines of Christianity throughout the world. However, with the canonization and publication of scriptures, the use of tongues ceases to exist in modern times.

Given this, Lewis calls the movement of tongues that arose in his time "gibberish." He compares the two occurrences to a skeptic's disbelief of true love over lust, because they produce the same result. The "modern" tongues movement of Lewis's time offers what appear to be men speaking in different languages, without the same results as those in the bible.

In the...