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Scotland at Prayer

In 2010 we mark the 450th anniversary of the Reformation, an event which left an indelible legacy in Scottish society. In a major seven part series, Billy Kay tells the story of the great ecclesiastical traditions which have shaped the history of Christianity in this country - Roman Catholic, Episcopalian and Presbyterian.

In the Highlands we explore the emergence of Evangelicalism in the Free Church and Free Presbyterian Church, and the survival of the tradition in Lewis. The story of other churches with a long pedigree in the country will be told - the Quakers, the Methodists and the Baptists.

We will recall the great religious revivals which swept through Scotland and the cultural forces which led to the spread of the Brethren churches in places like Ayrshire mining villages and fishing communities on the Moray coast.

We will explore the history of the churches, the faith of the people who belong to them, the local and national identity of their adherents, their influence on politics and culture, the effects of immigration, and the tension between the values of the past and the society of the present.

For a majority of Scots, knowledge of other churches can be scant and based on stereotypes. This series will reveal the deep historic roots of all of the major Christian denominations in Scotland and explore their relevance to the future of the country.

In the first program, we examine the period of the Reformation itself, and the visionary nature of some of the innovations introduced by Knox and Melville. We also counter some of the myths, and discover for example that John Knox was a claret drinking ladies' man who was regarded as one of the countries first linguistic anglicisers!

An Odyssey Production for Radio Scotland
Taking part: Harry Reid, author of Reformation: The Dangerous Birth of the Modern World;

Professor Jane Dawson of Edinburgh University, author of Scotland Re-Formed 1488 - 1587;

Brian M Halloran author of The Scots College Paris 1603 - 1792;

Donald MacLeod, former Principle of the Free Church of Scotland College in Edinburgh;

John MacLeod, journalist and author of Banner in the West;

Edward (Ted) Luscombe, former Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church and Bishop of Brechin;

Canon Emsley Nimmo, Dean of Aberdeen and Orkney

James Halliday, historian

Music from the time of the Scottish Reformation is provided by the Lindores Consort, and an extract from the poetry of the Wedderburn brothers from Dundee is read by Jamie Reid Baxter - both were recorded at a concert in St Salvator's church in Dundee.

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