David M. Dorpat
Our Concordia Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana, has been a leader in opposing the present renewal in the Holy Spirit which we at RIM believe is an authentic work of God in and through the church today. Seminary policy has been to ask students if they "claim to possess one of the special charismatic gifts referred to in 1 Corinthians 12." If they did claim such a blessing, they were assigned professors to educate them and if they did not recant their beliefs concerning these charismatic gifts, they were not to receive a call as a pastor in the Missouri Synod.
In early January, 1976, as part of their program of indoctrination against the renewal, the Seminary (when it was located in Springfield, Illinois) invited Dr. Paul A. Qualben, a psychiatrist from New York, to present a lecture to the student body on a study he had conducted concerning the renewal. It happened that on staff that year was a visiting professor, the Rev. Risto Santala, who had recently been teaching in Israel. He heard the lecture and wrote a letter, dated "26th of January, 1976" to Dr. Qualben which began:
"Dear Doctor Qualben, For less than two weeks ago you had a lecture about the phenomena (sic) of glossolalia....Among the examples given we heard also a tape where one and the same man spoke 5 different languages and sang a liturgical chant. According to the tape which I got of this lecture [you said that] 'linguists that have analyzed many tapes of persons speaking in tongues have not found any of them represent a known language or dialect.' Since I've been preaching and teaching more than ten years in modern Hebrew in Jerusalem and since I've been used to medieval RASHI-Hebrew and Talmudic texts, I felt that it would be good to notify you of the treasure which you have in your hands."
Pastor Santala proceeds to give a four page, typed, detailed commentary on the music and text of this chant "treasure." He says it is a "hypodorian A-reciting tone, similar to Gregorian Chant though its roots are pre-Gregorian monophonic plainsong." And that "This type of singing traces back to first Christian hymns and the ancient temple service!!" He further comments that "The song has all the signs of professional musical work."
He introduces the text of this chant in tongues, pointing out that it is based mainly on Numbers 6:24, "The LORD bless Thee," and indicates that "the holy name of God which is never pronounced by a religious Jew is however departed to two synonyms of God, El and Jah, theologically a very interesting solution."
He says that "The pronunciation is of highest professional quality and has no American features whatsoever." After mentioning that he has been studying singing about eight years with a well-known Jewish professor, Pastor Santala affirms the authenticity, even of the singing style, saying: "I must admit that this man glides over the words very distinctly and smoothly." Then he gives a literal translation of the text:
May the Lord God bless thee * O Man... of His * O man 'of-Him-He' bless the bride * that God shakes you, He hears and blesses the bride *Behold He and He will bless completely as if in heaven * in order to save and God reveals His full power * Thou hast made the Exalted One as if cursed by God and I shall bless the bride * the light of Messiah becomes wonderful * He will answer, He saves. * I shall bless the bride with strong latter rain. He hears * raise [presumably corresponding (to) the Latin "sursum corda"]
"Its music and linguistic level is high, but the theological concepts are still deeper" writes Santala and then goes into some of these deep concepts: The Man addressed is "Man-of-Him-He." Some Jewish scholars like the Swedish Chief Rabbi Gottlieb Klein, have stated that the "forbidden name of God" would be originally "ani ho," "ani Hu" or in its Aramaic form "anaho" or "ana ko" -- the word used here is the best combination of this hidden name, "an-da-ko-ho"......Even Luther tried to solve the mystery of this name in his book "Vom Schem Ha-Mephorasch," a rather anti-semitic piece of literature."
Santala continues his study of the chant, word by word and line by line, commenting repeatedly on its ancient authenticity and referencing Scripture after Scripture in support of its theology and then concludes this section with:
"The most interesting prophecy in this song is the promise of "the latter rain." According to our Hebrew Bible Joel 3:23 reads as follows: 'He will give you the former rain for righteousness (or 'the teacher of righteousness' like in the Scrolls of the Dead Sea and in some Jewish rabbinic sources) and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain and the latter rain.' The former rain begins the rain season and the latter comes always just before the harvest forming the flesh for the grain--in accord to this many Christians believe that there will be a short time of blessing before the second advent."
He ends his commentary by saying that "The conclusive 'podatus'..is....the finest ending this kind of chant could have," and closes the letter with a summary of his findings: "As we have seen, we meet in our chant profound musical expertness, good Hebrew pronunciation, old poetical type of language with pure rhymes, clear Biblical message, which follows beautifully the music, and old mystic rabbinic ideas of God and "a Man" united in accord with Christian doctrine -- everything in one and the same package, spoken as it seems to be in "glossolalia." I, also, was especially impressed with the last part of that chant with its mention of the "latter rain."
To millions and millions around the world, today's outpouring of the Holy Spirit with His gifts is truly a blessing that is multiplying the church greater than at any other point in history -- perhaps just before the second advent as Santala said?
Copies of Pastor Santala's letter were circulated through the Seminary student body and faculty but the treasure was ignored. And this experience is not unusual. Many who have been involved for some time in the renewal can share testimonies of those who have heard the gift of tongues spoken in a language they understood. People have been won to Christ by such tongue-speaking. But when you are convinced that you have all truth, you aren't open to anything else, even if it's Biblical and therefore Lutheran. It saddens my heart.
David
M. Dorpat
2034 1st Pl. S.
Des Moines, WA 98198
Editor's Note: The person who spoke the "tongues" utterance above is a Lutheran pastor who happened to record his prayers during his morning devotions. The amazing thing is that this pastor does not speak Hebrew at all.