Unit 15: Scots and religion
Introduction
Language plays an important role in religion through sacred texts or scriptures, like the Jewish Tanakh, the Muslim Koran, and the Christian Bible. But the forms of words used in services of worship, which are sometimes called liturgies, are also important. These might include regular occasions, but also festivals such as Easter and Christmas, or rites of passage such as births, marriages and deaths.
When the Christian religion spread into Scotland, from the 5th century, the language it used was Latin, the official language of the Roman Empire. The liturgies used, notably for the Mass, were in Latin, and the Bible was read in Latin from a version known as the Vulgate. This continued until the Reform movements of the 16th century.
These texts were recorded and handed on for centuries in carefully copied manuscripts until the invention of printing. Most people understood what was happening through the actions of the priests, and the paintings and stained glass that adorned the churches. The actual words were more respected than understood.
In this unit, you will be able to work with some passages from the most influential 16th century Bible translations and other extracts from famous religious texts and texts that have religious contexts. As well as that, this unit provides many opportunities for you to practice listening to the Scots language, most of all older Scots, and you will be able to speak some Scots again, too.
Important themes to take notes on throughout this unit:
- how Protestant reformers translated the Bible into commonly spoken or vernacular languages
- the Bassendyne Bible of 1579 – the first non-Latin Bible to be printed in Scotland
- the impact of The Book of Common Order not being in Scots
- the effects of Anglicisation
- the Gude and Golie Ballatis
- the publication in 1901 of the New Testament in Braid Scots,which attempted to imitate the language of Burns rather than the medieval poets
- Lorimer’s translation of the New Testament from Greek into Scots.
Activity 1 
Before commencing your study of this unit, you may wish to jot down some thoughts on the important details we suggest you take notes on throughout this unit. You could write down what you already know about each of these points, as well as any assumption or question you might have.