Luther agus An Domhan Gaelach

It was a media revolution.

There are so many parallels between the 16th century

and the digital revolution that we are experiencing today.

You're chanting what you believe as an act of defiance,

and that's revolutionary.

BAROQUE CLASSICAL MUSIC

CHOIR SINGS

So, would they have looked something like this?

Or what sort of shape would the document have taken?

Yes, so, the original document, sadly, is lost,

and we don't know if it was a print or if it was, in fact, handwritten.

Also, it was written in Latin,

the language of the church and academia,

so, Luther, being a monk and a professor of theology

at the university, would certainly write a document like this in Latin.

So, it was more a debate between the professors of theology

-and the church hierarchy.

-Yes.

It was only meant for debate amongst theologians and academics,

and the general citizen

would not have been able to read the Latin document here.

When do we get the German versions coming along, then?

Well, so, in 1518, one year later,

Luther wrote a sermon on indulgence and grace,

which was written in German,

and it opened the debate to the general public,

and he took up the matters that he introduced in the thesis there.

Charlotte, could you tell me something about the development

of print culture in Germany at the time of Martin Luther?

Yes, so, the printing press had been around since 1450

when Gutenberg invented it -

but they printed some indulgence letters

and some theological texts, but it's no comparison

to what happened here in Wittenberg after Martin Luther.

The printing press was his medium, and he made it his own.

-So, Luther had, really, technology on his side as well as message.

-Yes.

A dynamic man with a big message

and the tools that can get that message out there.

Yeah, you could definitely say so.

The Reformation is a direct development from the printing press,

so, without the press, there would not be a Reformation.

There are so many parallels

between the media revolution in the 16th century

and the digital revolution that we are experiencing today.

CONGREGATION SINGS

We have, really, two branches of Protestantism

and no consensus between these tendencies.

The inside of the churches, during the time when Calvin was here,

was deeply transformed.

You have a place which is whitewashed, no images, no statues,

in order to further the concentration

of all the worshippers on what is saying from the pulpits.

Calvin felt that music can stimulate sexual imagination,

so, it has to be controlled -

but music can also stimulate spiritual elevation,

so he defined a very precise theology on use of music.

You can sing only biblical words, psalms, only in unison.

No polyphonic singing.

So, it is really community singing, the singing of the people.

Knox brings a start-up kit, which has got three components.

He has a Bible, he has a Psalter and he has an order of worship -

but the most important, is, of course,

a translation of the Bible into the language of the people.

This was the first version in English to be divided into verses.

-Now, that makes life a lot easier...

-Yes.

..than having a great chunk of text.

They also produce things like this nice map that you can see here,

so that people understood -

this is a map of the people of Israel in the Old Testament

wandering in the wilderness.

As well as maps, you have an index and you have notes down the side.

You have explanations.

All these things we take for granted were new -

so, what you have is a full interpretation, as well as the text,

within one set of covers,

and that's revolutionary.

But this is still quite an expensive book -

and, in fact, we have the Psalter, the psalm book, as well.

This is smaller, it's easier to afford,

and more available than a great big Bible.

So you feel you've got the Word of God in your home,

even if you can't afford a Bible.

-Here is both the music and the words.

-Yes.

So, the psalms that you sing in church,

you also sing them in the home -

but it's not just the church and the home, it's out there in the street.

These are a bit more like, um...

..political protest songs - football songs, even.

You're chanting what you believe, and this particular psalm,

"Now Israel may say," this was sung here in Edinburgh

at a - what we would now call a political rally,

where you had a couple of thousand people

all singing this psalm as an act of defiance.

Psalms, you memorise.

So, you could just sing it whenever, wherever.

So, these are also these acts of defiance,

saying, "God's on my side, God has delivered me,"

and that was really important both individually

and for a sense of Scottish identity, too.

CONGREGATION SINGS

Jane, what gem have you uncovered for me here?

This is the very exciting first book ever printed in Gaelic.

John Carswell's Form Of Prayers, or Book Of Common Order.

John Carswell was Superintendent of Argyll and Bishop of the Isles,

and this is the book to be used in churches by the ministers

and heard by the Gaelic congregations,

so people hear it, but they don't necessarily have the book.

Who produced this book?

It's Carswell's own patron, the fifth Earl of Argyll,

whom he's known since childhood.

It provides all the resources Carswell needs

to get this translation done.

The fact that this had happened means that Gaelic clergy

were able to take the Reformation to the Gaels of Scotland

and, of course, of Ireland, too, as he makes it clear.

I see, here, he starts off...

HE READS IN GAELIC

"Walk every district of smooth Scotland,"

and then, here, he has, look...

HE READS IN GAELIC

"..and after that, cross the wave to Ireland of the smooth lands."

-He's got a master plan, really.

-Absolutely.

This is not something merely for Scotland,

it is definitely for Ireland, too.

MAN SINGS

CONGREGATION JOINS IN