THE purser of the Ponce de Leon halted as a hand was laid on his arm. ‘Do you see what I see, Mr. Springer?’ inquired one of the passengers from the ship. The purser laughed. ‘That’s not a bad ...

There is much confusion in the religious world pertaining to the nature of the “gift of tongues” mentioned in the New Testament. Some assert that speaking in tongues involved uttering unintelligible ...

Babel No More: The Search for the World's Most Extraordinary Language Learners. By Michael Erard. Free Press; 306 pages; $25.99. Buy from Amazon.com CARDINAL MEZZOFANTI of Bologna was a secular saint.

MARGARET SCHLAUCH is a professor of English at New York University and teaches Chaucer, medieval literature and language. In the "Gift of Tongues", however, she has directed attention to the study of ...

Q. I wanted to know what the Bible says about tongues. Does everyone speak in tongues? How do you get that gift from God? Do you need an interpreter? — M.R., Fort Lauderdale A. The Bible does give ...

Seamus Heaney, awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995, is the author of numerous books, including "Electric Light." His essay will appear as the introduction to "A Way of Life, Like Any Other.