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119-523: The four canonical gospels lack any narrative covering the years between Jesus' infancy and his parents' finding him in the Temple when he was 12. Liturgical feasts relating to Christ's infancy and childhood include: From about the third or fourth century onwards, the child Jesus is frequently shown in paintings, and sculpture. Commonly these are nativity scenes showing the birth of Jesus, with his mother Mary , and her husband Joseph . Depictions as

238-442: A 19% fall in bilingual speakers between the 1911 and 1921 Censuses. Michelle MacLeod of Aberdeen University has said that there was no other period with such a high fall in the number of monolingual Gaelic speakers: "Gaelic speakers became increasingly the exception from that point forward with bilingualism replacing monolingualism as the norm for Gaelic speakers." The Linguistic Survey of Scotland (1949–1997) surveyed both

357-564: A Pictish substrate. In 1018, after the conquest of Lothian (theretofore part of England and inhabited predominantly by speakers of Northumbrian Old English ) by the Kingdom of Scotland , Gaelic reached its social, cultural, political, and geographic zenith. Colloquial speech in Scotland had been developing independently of that in Ireland since the eighth century. For the first time,

476-604: A baby with the Virgin Mary, known as Madonna and Child , are iconographical types in Eastern and Western traditions. Other scenes from his time as a baby, of his circumcision , presentation at the temple, the adoration of the Magi , and the flight into Egypt , are common. Scenes showing his developing years are more rare but not unknown. Saint Joseph, Anthony of Padua , and Saint Christopher are often depicted holding

595-524: A central feature of court life there. The semi-independent Lordship of the Isles in the Hebrides and western coastal mainland remained thoroughly Gaelic since the language's recovery there in the 12th century, providing a political foundation for cultural prestige down to the end of the 15th century. By the mid-14th century what eventually came to be called Scots (at that time termed Inglis ) emerged as

714-823: A challenge to revitalization efforts which occur outside the home. Positive engagements between language learners and native speakers of Gaelic through mentorship has proven to be productive in socializing new learners into fluency. In the 2022 census, 3,551 people claimed Gaelic as their 'main language.' Of these, 1,761 (49.6%) were in Na h-Eileanan Siar, 682 (19.2%) were in Highland, 369 were in Glasgow City and 120 were in City of Edinburgh; no other council area had as many as 80 such respondents. Gaelic has long suffered from its lack of use in educational and administrative contexts and

833-551: A dialect known as Canadian Gaelic has been spoken in Canada since the 18th century. In the 2021 census , 2,170 Canadian residents claimed knowledge of Scottish Gaelic, a decline from 3,980 speakers in the 2016 census . There exists a particular concentration of speakers in Nova Scotia , with historic communities in other parts of Canada having largely disappeared. Scottish Gaelic is classed as an indigenous language under

952-498: A fabrication since different eyewitnesses would have perceived and remembered differently. According to Chris Keith, a historical Jesus is "ultimately unattainable, but can be hypothesized on the basis of the interpretations of the early Christians , and as part of a larger process of accounting for how and why early Christians came to view Jesus in the ways that they did." According to Keith, "these two models are methodologically and epistemologically incompatible," calling into question

1071-489: A full range of language skills: speaking, understanding, reading and writing Gaelic. 40.2% of Scotland's Gaelic speakers said that they used Gaelic at home. To put this in context, the most common language spoken at home in Scotland after English and Scots is Polish, with about 1.1% of the population, or 54,000 people. The 2011 UK Census showed a total of 57,375 Gaelic speakers in Scotland (1.1% of population over three years old), of whom only 32,400 could also read and write

1190-544: A guarantee of his reliability, and the Synoptic Gospels are the primary sources for Christ's ministry. Assessments of the reliability of the Gospels involve not just the texts but studying the long oral and written transmission behind them using methods like memory studies and form criticism , with different scholars coming to different conclusions. James D.G. Dunn believed that the earliest tradents within

1309-586: A language ideology at odds with revitalization efforts on behalf of new speakers, state policies (such as the Gaelic Language Act), and family members reclaiming their lost mother tongue. New learners of Gaelic often have a positive affective stance to their language learning, and connect this learning journey towards Gaelic language revitalization. The mismatch of these language ideologies, and differences in affective stance, has led to fewer speaking opportunities for adult language learners and therefore

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1428-805: A national centre for Gaelic Language and Culture, based in Sleat , on the Isle of Skye . This institution is the only source for higher education which is conducted entirely in Scottish Gaelic. They offer courses for Gaelic learners from beginners into fluency. They also offer regular bachelors and graduate programs delivered entirely in Gaelic. Concerns have been raised around the fluency achieved by learners within these language programs because they are disconnected from vernacular speech communities. In regard to language revitalization planning efforts, many feel that

1547-549: A process of Gaelicisation (which may have begun generations earlier) was clearly under way during the reigns of Caustantín and his successors. By a certain point, probably during the 11th century, all the inhabitants of Alba had become fully Gaelicised Scots, and Pictish identity was forgotten. Bilingualism in Pictish and Gaelic, prior to the former's extinction, led to the presence of Pictish loanwords in Gaelic and syntactic influence which could be considered to constitute

1666-610: A proportion of Gaelic speakers greater than 65% (the highest value is in Barvas , Lewis , with 64.1%). In addition, no civil parish on mainland Scotland has a proportion of Gaelic speakers greater than 20% (the highest is in Ardnamurchan , Highland , with 19.3%). Out of a total of 871 civil parishes in Scotland, the proportion of Gaelic speakers exceeds 50% in seven parishes, 25% in 14 parishes, and 10% in 35 parishes. Decline in traditional areas has recently been balanced by growth in

1785-536: A situation where new learners struggle to find opportunities to speak Gaelic with fluent speakers. Affect is the way people feel about something, or the emotional response to a particular situation or experience. For Gaelic speakers, there is a conditioned and socialized negative affect through a long history of negative Scottish media portrayal and public disrespect, state mandated restrictions on Gaelic usage, and highland clearances . This negative affect towards speaking openly with non-native Gaelic speakers has led to

1904-497: A stable tradition resulting in little invention in the Gospels. Le Donne expressed himself thusly vis-a-vis more skeptical scholars, "He (Dale Allison) does not read the gospels as fiction, but even if these early stories derive from memory, memory can be frail and often misleading. While I do not share Allison's point of departure (i.e. I am more optimistic), I am compelled by the method that came from it." Dale Allison emphasizes

2023-625: A translation of the New Testament. In 1798, four tracts in Gaelic were published by the Society for Propagating the Gospel at Home, with 5,000 copies of each printed. Other publications followed, with a full Gaelic Bible in 1801. The influential and effective Gaelic Schools Society was founded in 1811. Their purpose was to teach Gaels to read the Bible in their own language. In the first quarter of

2142-567: A variety of reasons, the majority of scholars have abandoned this view or hold it only tenuously. Most scholars believe that the Historical Jesus was an apocalyptic prophet who predicted the imminent end or transformation of the world, though others, notably the Jesus Seminar , disagree. As eyewitnesses began to die, and as the missionary needs of the church grew, there was an increasing demand and need for written versions of

2261-405: A variety of sources, followed by Matthew and Luke , which both independently used Mark for their narrative of Jesus's career, supplementing it with a collection of sayings called "the Q source ", and additional material unique to each. Alan Kirk praises Matthew in particular for his "scribal memory competence" and "his high esteem for and careful handling of both Mark and Q", which makes claims

2380-719: Is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family ) native to the Gaels of Scotland . As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as both Irish and Manx , developed out of Old Irish . It became a distinct spoken language sometime in the 13th century in the Middle Irish period, although a common literary language was shared by the Gaels of both Ireland and Scotland until well into

2499-531: Is a Scottish carol from Moidart, Scotland. The Catholic priest Ranald Rankin, wrote the lyrics for Midnight Mass around the year 1855. He originally wrote 29 verses in Scottish Gaelic , but the popular English translation is limited to five. The melody, Cumha Mhic Arois ("Lament for Mac Àrois"), is from the Hebrides and was a sung as a protective charm for the fisherman away at sea. The rhythm mirrors

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2618-490: Is a significant step forward for the recognition of Gaelic both at home and abroad and I look forward to addressing the council in Gaelic very soon. Seeing Gaelic spoken in such a forum raises the profile of the language as we drive forward our commitment to creating a new generation of Gaelic speakers in Scotland." Bilingual road signs, street names, business and advertisement signage (in both Gaelic and English) are gradually being introduced throughout Gaelic-speaking regions in

2737-478: Is at first acclaimed but then rejected, betrayed, and crucified, and when the women who have followed him come to his tomb, they find it empty. Mark never calls Jesus "God" or claims that he existed prior to his earthly life, apparently believes that he had a normal human parentage and birth, and makes no attempt to trace his ancestry back to King David or Adam ; it originally ended at Mark 16:8 and had no post-resurrection appearances , although Mark 16:7, in which

2856-411: Is no evidence that Gaelic was ever widely spoken. Many historians mark the reign of King Malcolm Canmore ( Malcolm III ) between 1058 and 1093 as the beginning of Gaelic's eclipse in Scotland. His wife Margaret of Wessex spoke no Gaelic, gave her children Anglo-Saxon rather than Gaelic names, and brought many English bishops, priests, and monastics to Scotland. When Malcolm and Margaret died in 1093,

2975-406: Is that the authors of Matthew and Luke based their narratives on Mark's gospel, editing him to suit their own ends, and the contradictions and discrepancies among these three versions and John make it impossible to accept both traditions as equally reliable with regard to the historical Jesus. In addition, the gospels read today have been edited and corrupted over time, leading Origen to complain in

3094-485: Is the first to make Christological judgements outside the context of the narrative of Jesus's life. He presents a significantly different picture of Jesus's career, omitting any mention of his ancestry, birth and childhood, his baptism , temptation and transfiguration ; his chronology and arrangement of incidents is also distinctly different, clearly describing the passage of three years in Jesus's ministry in contrast to

3213-676: Is too one-sided, noting that memory "is nevertheless sufficiently stable to authentically bring the past to bear on the present" and that people are beholden to memory's successes in everyday life. Craig Keener , drawing on the works of previous studies by Dunn, Alan Kirk, Kenneth Bailey , and Robert McIver, among many others, utilizes memory theory and oral tradition to argue that the Gospels are in many ways historically accurate. His work has been endorsed by Markus Bockmuehl , James Charlesworth , and David Aune , among others. According to Bruce Chilton and Craig Evans , "...the Judaism of

3332-511: The Apostle Paul , we "know far more about Jesus of Nazareth than about any first or second century Jewish or pagan religious teacher". EP Sanders claimed that the sources for Jesus are superior to the ones for Alexander the Great . Critical study on the Historical Jesus has largely failed to distinguish the original ideas of Jesus from those of the later Christian authors , and

3451-516: The Christian message (" the gospel "), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was reported. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words and deeds of Jesus , culminating in his trial and death and concluding with various reports of his post-resurrection appearances . The gospels are a kind of bios , or ancient biography , meant to convince people that Jesus

3570-720: The Diatessaron . Gospel is the Old English translation of the Hellenistic Greek term εὐαγγέλιον , meaning "good news"; this may be seen from analysis of ευαγγέλιον ( εὖ "good" + ἄγγελος "messenger" + -ιον diminutive suffix). The Greek term was Latinized as evangelium in the Vulgate , and translated into Latin as bona annuntiatio . In Old English, it was translated as gōdspel ( gōd "good" + spel "news"). The Old English term

3689-837: The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages , which the UK Government has ratified, and the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005 established a language-development body, Bòrd na Gàidhlig . The Scottish Parliament is considering a Scottish Languages Bill which proposes to give the Gaelic and Scots languages official status in Scotland. Aside from "Scottish Gaelic", the language may also be referred to simply as "Gaelic", pronounced / ˈ ɡ æ l ɪ k / GAL -ik in English . However, "Gaelic" / ˈ ɡ eɪ l ɪ k / GAY -lik also refers to

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3808-581: The Gospel of Marcion , similar to the Gospel of Luke. The Muratorian canon , the earliest surviving list of books considered (by its own author at least) to form Christian scripture, included Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Irenaeus of Lyons went further, stating that there must be four gospels and only four because there were four corners of the Earth and thus the Church should have four pillars. He referred to

3927-555: The Outer Hebrides , accommodation ethics exist amongst native or local Gaelic speakers when engaging with new learners or non-locals. Accommodation ethics, or ethics of accommodation, is a social practice where local or native speakers of Gaelic shift to speaking English when in the presence of non-Gaelic speakers out of a sense of courtesy or politeness. This accommodation ethic persists even in situations where new learners attempt to speak Gaelic with native speakers. This creates

4046-688: The Scottish Lowlands . Between the 2001 and 2011 censuses, the number of Gaelic speakers rose in nineteen of the country's 32 council areas. The largest absolute gains were in Aberdeenshire (+526), North Lanarkshire (+305), the Aberdeen City council area (+216), and East Ayrshire (+208). The largest relative gains were in Aberdeenshire (+0.19%), East Ayrshire (+0.18%), Moray (+0.16%), and Orkney (+0.13%). In 2018,

4165-786: The significant increase in pupils in Gaelic-medium education since that time is unknown. Gaelic Medium Education is one of the primary ways that the Scottish Government is addressing Gaelic language shift. Along with the Bòrd na Gàidhlig policies, preschool and daycare environments are also being used to create more opportunities for intergenerational language transmission in the Outer Hebrides.  However, revitalization efforts are not unified within Scotland or Nova Scotia, Canada. One can attend Sabhal Mòr Ostaig ,

4284-477: The 17th century. Most of modern Scotland was once Gaelic-speaking, as evidenced especially by Gaelic-language place names. In the 2011 census of Scotland , 57,375 people (1.1% of the Scottish population aged over three years old) reported being able to speak Gaelic, 1,275 fewer than in 2001. The highest percentages of Gaelic speakers were in the Outer Hebrides . Nevertheless, there is a language revival , and

4403-601: The 19th century, the SSPCK (despite their anti-Gaelic attitude in prior years) and the British and Foreign Bible Society distributed 60,000 Gaelic Bibles and 80,000 New Testaments. It is estimated that this overall schooling and publishing effort gave about 300,000 people in the Highlands some basic literacy. Very few European languages have made the transition to a modern literary language without an early modern translation of

4522-404: The 2011 Census. The 2011 total population figure comes from table KS101SC. The numbers of Gaelic speakers relate to the numbers aged 3 and over, and the percentages are calculated using those and the number of the total population aged 3 and over. Across the whole of Scotland, the 2011 census showed that 25,000 people (0.49% of the population) used Gaelic at home. Of these, 63.3% said that they had

4641-437: The 3rd century that "the differences among manuscripts have become great [...] [because copyists] either neglect to check over what they have transcribed, or, in the process of checking, they make additions or deletions as they please." Most of these are insignificant, but some are significant, an example being Matthew 1:18, altered to imply the pre-existence of Jesus. For these reasons, modern scholars are cautious of relying on

4760-407: The 4th–5th centuries CE, by settlers from Ireland who founded the Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata on Scotland's west coast in present-day Argyll . An alternative view has been voiced by archaeologist Ewan Campbell , who has argued that the putative migration or takeover is not reflected in archaeological or placename data (as pointed out earlier by Leslie Alcock ). Campbell has also questioned

4879-569: The Bible; the lack of a well known translation may have contributed to the decline of Scottish Gaelic. Counterintuitively, access to schooling in Gaelic increased knowledge of English. In 1829, the Gaelic Schools Society reported that parents were unconcerned about their children learning Gaelic, but were anxious to have them taught English. The SSPCK also found Highlanders to have significant prejudice against Gaelic. T. M. Devine attributes this to an association between English and

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4998-871: The Christ Child have been canonically crowned , namely the Bambino Gesu of Arenzano and the Santo Bambino of Aracoeli (both in Italy ), the Infant Jesus of Prague ( Czech Republic ), and the Santo Niño de Cebú ( Philippines ). In the 17th century, French Carmelites promoted veneration of the "Little King of Beaune". In the late 19th century, a devotion to the "Holy Child of Remedy" developed in Madrid . Tàladh Chrìosda ("Christ Child Lullaby")

5117-682: The Christ Child. The Christian mystics Ss. Teresa of Ávila , Thérèse of Lisieux , along with the devotees of the Divino Niño such as Mother Angelica and Giovanni Rizzo claim to have had apparitions of the Infant Jesus. The Christ Child was a popular subject in European wood sculpture beginning in the 1300s. The Christ Child was well known in Spain under the title montañesino after the santero sculptor Juan Martínez Montañés began

5236-547: The Christian churches [were] preservers more than innovators [...] seeking to transmit, retell, explain, interpret, elaborate, but not create de novo [...] Through the main body of the Synoptic tradition [...] we have in most cases direct access to the teaching and ministry of Jesus as it was remembered from the beginning of the transmission process [...] and so fairly direct access to the ministry and teaching of Jesus through

5355-597: The Confraternity in January 1661; Pius IX made it an archconfraternity in 1855. The Christ Child Society was founded in 1885 in Washington, D.C., by Mary Virginia Merrick , as a small relief organization to aid local underprivileged children. Additional chapters were started in other cities. Canonical gospel Gospel ( ‹See Tfd› Greek : εὐαγγέλιον ; Latin : evangelium ) originally meant

5474-594: The EU's institutions. The Scottish government had to pay for the translation from Gaelic to other European languages . The deal was received positively in Scotland; Secretary of State for Scotland Jim Murphy said the move was a strong sign of the UK government's support for Gaelic. He said; "Allowing Gaelic speakers to communicate with European institutions in their mother tongue is a progressive step forward and one which should be welcomed". Culture Minister Mike Russell said; "this

5593-538: The Forth–Clyde line and along the northeastern coastal plain as far north as Moray. Norman French completely displaced Gaelic at court. The establishment of royal burghs throughout the same area, particularly under David I , attracted large numbers of foreigners speaking Old English. This was the beginning of Gaelic's status as a predominantly rural language in Scotland. Clan chiefs in the northern and western parts of Scotland continued to support Gaelic bards who remained

5712-684: The Gaelic Act falls so far short of the status accorded to Welsh that one would be foolish or naïve to believe that any substantial change will occur in the fortunes of the language as a result of Bòrd na Gàidhlig 's efforts. On 10 December 2008, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights , the Scottish Human Rights Commission had the UDHR translated into Gaelic for

5831-762: The Gaelic aristocracy rejected their anglicised sons and instead backed Malcolm's brother Domnall Bán ( Donald III ). Donald had spent 17 years in Gaelic Ireland and his power base was in the thoroughly Gaelic west of Scotland. He was the last Scottish monarch to be buried on Iona , the traditional burial place of the Gaelic Kings of Dàl Riada and the Kingdom of Alba. However, during the reigns of Malcolm Canmore's sons, Edgar, Alexander I and David I (their successive reigns lasting 1097–1153), Anglo-Norman names and practices spread throughout Scotland south of

5950-516: The Gospel-texts. According to Dunn, "What we actually have in the earliest retellings of what is now the Synoptic tradition...are the memories of the first disciples-not Jesus himself, but the remembered Jesus. The idea that we can get back to an objective historical reality, which we can wholly separate and disentangle from the disciples' memories...is simply unrealistic." These memories can contradict and are not always historically correct, as

6069-485: The Gospels display. Chris Keith argues that the Historical Jesus was the one who could create these memories, both true or not. For instance, Mark and Luke disagree on how Jesus came back to the synagogue, with the likely more accurate Mark arguing he was rejected for being an artisan, while Luke portrays Jesus as literate and his refusal to heal in Nazareth as cause of his dismissal. Keith does not view Luke's account as

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6188-673: The Gospels should be trusted, though he is more skeptical on the details; if they are broadly unreliable, then our sources almost certainly cannot have preserved any of the particulars. Opposing preceding approaches where the Gospels are historically questionable and must be rigorously sifted through by competent scholars for nuggets of information, Allison argues that the Gospels are generally accurate and often 'got Jesus right'. Dale Allison finds apocalypticism to be recurrently attested, among various other themes. Reviewing his work, Rafael Rodriguez largely agrees with Allison's methodology and conclusions while arguing that Allison's discussion on memory

6307-619: The Highland and Island region. In 1616, the Privy Council proclaimed that schools teaching in English should be established. Gaelic was seen, at this time, as one of the causes of the instability of the region. It was also associated with Catholicism. The Society in Scotland for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge (SSPCK) was founded in 1709. They met in 1716, immediately after the failed Jacobite rising of 1715 , to consider

6426-416: The Highlands and Islands, including Argyll. In many cases, this has simply meant re-adopting the traditional spelling of a name (such as Ràtagan or Loch Ailleart rather than the anglicised forms Ratagan or Lochailort respectively). Some monolingual Gaelic road signs, particularly direction signs, are used on the Outer Hebrides , where a majority of the population can have a working knowledge of

6545-429: The Infant Jesus. Gaston Jean Baptiste de Renty donated a statue which came to be referred to the "Little King of Grace". [1] He then introduced Jean-Jacques Olier , founder of the Sulpicians , to Sister Margaret. Olier then established the devotion to the Holy Infant at Saint-Sulpice, Paris . François Fénelon , who was then a priest at Saint-Sulpice, composed litanies of the Infant Jesus. Pope Alexander VII approved

6664-426: The Inner Hebridean dialects of Tiree and Islay, and even a few native speakers from Western Highland areas including Wester Ross , northwest Sutherland , Lochaber and Argyll . Dialects on both sides of the Straits of Moyle (the North Channel ) linking Scottish Gaelic with Irish are now extinct, though native speakers were still to be found on the Mull of Kintyre , on Rathlin and in North East Ireland as late as

6783-410: The Irish language ( Gaeilge ) and the Manx language ( Gaelg ). Scottish Gaelic is distinct from Scots , the Middle English -derived language which had come to be spoken in most of the Lowlands of Scotland by the early modern era . Prior to the 15th century, this language was known as Inglis ("English") by its own speakers, with Gaelic being called Scottis ("Scottish"). Beginning in

6902-420: The Jewish scriptures, by quoting or referencing passages, interpreting texts, or alluding to or echoing biblical themes. Such use can be extensive: Mark's description of the Parousia (second coming) is made up almost entirely of quotations from scripture. Matthew is full of quotations and allusions , and although John uses scripture in a far less explicit manner, its influence is still pervasive. Their source

7021-413: The Roman Empire (some 2,500 miles across), with thousands of participants—from different backgrounds, with different concerns, and in different contexts—some of whom have to translate the stories into different languages. While multiple quests have been undertaken to reconstruct the historical Jesus, since the late 1990s concerns have been growing about the possibility to reconstruct a historical Jesus from

7140-428: The UK Government as Welsh . With the advent of devolution , however, Scottish matters have begun to receive greater attention, and it achieved a degree of official recognition when the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act was enacted by the Scottish Parliament on 21 April 2005. The key provisions of the Act are: After its creation, Bòrd na Gàidhlig required a Gaelic Language Plan from the Scottish Government. This plan

7259-581: The Western Isles (−1,745), Argyll & Bute (−694), and Highland (−634). The drop in Stornoway , the largest parish in the Western Isles by population, was especially acute, from 57.5% of the population in 1991 to 43.4% in 2011. The only parish outside the Western Isles over 40% Gaelic-speaking is Kilmuir in Northern Skye at 46%. The islands in the Inner Hebrides with significant percentages of Gaelic speakers are Tiree (38.3%), Raasay (30.4%), Skye (29.4%), Lismore (26.9%), Colonsay (20.2%), and Islay (19.0%). Today, no civil parish in Scotland has

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7378-589: The Western Isles. The Scottish Qualifications Authority offer two streams of Gaelic examination across all levels of the syllabus: Gaelic for learners (equivalent to the modern foreign languages syllabus) and Gaelic for native speakers (equivalent to the English syllabus). An Comunn Gàidhealach performs assessment of spoken Gaelic, resulting in the issue of a Bronze Card, Silver Card or Gold Card. Syllabus details are available on An Comunn's website. These are not widely recognised as qualifications, but are required for those taking part in certain competitions at

7497-466: The age and reliability of the medieval historical sources speaking of a conquest. Instead, he has inferred that Argyll formed part of a common Q-Celtic -speaking area with Ireland, connected rather than divided by the sea, since the Iron Age. These arguments have been opposed by some scholars defending the early dating of the traditional accounts and arguing for other interpretations of the archaeological evidence. Regardless of how it came to be spoken in

7616-408: The annual mods . In October 2009, a new agreement allowed Scottish Gaelic to be formally used between Scottish Government ministers and European Union officials. The deal was signed by Britain's representative to the EU, Sir Kim Darroch , and the Scottish government . This did not give Scottish Gaelic official status in the EU but gave it the right to be a means of formal communications in

7735-413: The bill be strengthened, a revised bill was published; the main alteration was that the guidance of the Bòrd is now statutory (rather than advisory). In the committee stages in the Scottish Parliament, there was much debate over whether Gaelic should be given 'equal validity' with English. Due to executive concerns about resourcing implications if this wording was used, the Education Committee settled on

7854-415: The birth and early life of Jesus. These are sometimes depicted. These stories were intended to show Jesus as having extraordinary gifts of power and knowledge, even from a young age. A common tale has the young Jesus animating sparrows out of clay belonging to his playmates. When admonished for doing so on the Sabbath , as in later life, he makes the birds fly away. Several historically significant images of

7973-625: The census of pupils in Scotland showed 520 students in publicly funded schools had Gaelic as the main language at home, an increase of 5% from 497 in 2014. During the same period, Gaelic medium education in Scotland has grown, with 4,343 pupils (6.3 per 1000) being educated in a Gaelic-immersion environment in 2018, up from 3,583 pupils (5.3 per 1000) in 2014. Data collected in 2007–2008 indicated that even among pupils enrolled in Gaelic medium schools, 81% of primary students and 74% of secondary students report using English more often than Gaelic when speaking with their mothers at home. The effect on this of

8092-406: The church. Many non-canonical gospels were also written, all later than the four canonical gospels, and like them advocating the particular theological views of their various authors. Important examples include the gospels of Thomas , Peter , Judas , and Mary ; infancy gospels such as that of James (the first to introduce the perpetual virginity of Mary ); and gospel harmonies such as

8211-419: The cities and professors of Celtic from universities who sought to preserve the language. The Education (Scotland) Act 1872 provided universal education in Scotland, but completely ignored Gaelic in its plans. The mechanism for supporting Gaelic through the Education Codes issued by the Scottish Education Department were steadily used to overcome this omission, with many concessions in place by 1918. However,

8330-416: The communities which produced them: It was originally written in Greek and is often interpreted as a Gnostic text. It is typically not considered a gospel by scholars since it does not focus on the life of Jesus. Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( / ˈ ɡ æ l ɪ k / , GAL -ik ; endonym : Gàidhlig [ˈkaːlɪkʲ] ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic ,

8449-450: The concept of 'equal respect'. It is not clear what the legal force of this wording is. The Act was passed by the Scottish Parliament unanimously, with support from all sectors of the Scottish political spectrum, on 21 April 2005. Under the provisions of the Act, it will ultimately fall to BnG to secure the status of the Gaelic language as an official language of Scotland. Some commentators, such as Éamonn Ó Gribín (2006) argue that

8568-660: The depiction of holding the globus cruciger , a bird symbolizing a soul or the Holy Spirit , or various paraphernalia related to its locality or region. The symbolism of the Christ Child in art reached its apex during the Renaissance : the Holy Family was a central theme in the works of Leonardo da Vinci and many other masters. Some Biblical apocrypha contain the Infancy Gospels provide accounts of

8687-499: The dialect of the Scottish Gaelic language, and also mixed use of English and Gaelic across the Highlands and Islands. Dialects of Lowland Gaelic have been defunct since the 18th century. Gaelic in the Eastern and Southern Scottish Highlands, although alive until the mid-20th century, is now largely defunct. Although modern Scottish Gaelic is dominated by the dialects of the Outer Hebrides and Isle of Skye, there remain some speakers of

8806-581: The differences of detail among the gospels are irreconcilable, and any attempt to harmonize them would only disrupt their distinct theological messages. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are termed the synoptic gospels because they present very similar accounts of the life of Jesus. Mark begins with the baptism of the adult Jesus and the heavenly declaration that he is the son of God; he gathers followers and begins his ministry, and tells his disciples that he must die in Jerusalem but that he will rise; in Jerusalem, he

8925-407: The early traditions were fluid and subject to alteration, sometimes transmitted by those who had known Jesus personally, but more often by wandering prophets and teachers like the Apostle Paul , who did not know him personally. Ehrman explains how the tradition developed as it was transmitted: You are probably familiar with the old birthday party game " telephone ." A group of kids sits in a circle,

9044-582: The entire region of modern-day Scotland was called Scotia in Latin, and Gaelic was the lingua Scotica . In southern Scotland , Gaelic was strong in Galloway , adjoining areas to the north and west, West Lothian , and parts of western Midlothian . It was spoken to a lesser degree in north Ayrshire , Renfrewshire , the Clyde Valley and eastern Dumfriesshire . In south-eastern Scotland, there

9163-460: The eyes and ears of those who went about with him. Anthony Le Donne, a leading memory researcher in Jesus studies, elaborated on Dunn's thesis, basing "his historiography squarely on Dunn’s thesis that the historical Jesus is the memory of Jesus recalled by the earliest disciples." According to Le Donne as explained by his reviewer, Benjamin Simpson, memories are fractured, and not exact recalls of

9282-404: The first tells a brief story to the one sitting next to her, who tells it to the next, and to the next, and so on, until it comes back full circle to the one who started it. Invariably, the story has changed so much in the process of retelling that everyone gets a good laugh. Imagine this same activity taking place, not in a solitary living room with ten kids on one afternoon, but over the expanse of

9401-560: The first time. However, given there are no longer any monolingual Gaelic speakers, following an appeal in the court case of Taylor v Haughney (1982), involving the status of Gaelic in judicial proceedings, the High Court ruled against a general right to use Gaelic in court proceedings. While the goal of the Gaelic Language Act was to aid in revitalization efforts through government mandated official language status,

9520-546: The focus of research has shifted to Jesus as remembered by his followers, and understanding the Gospels themselves. The canonical gospels are the four which appear in the New Testament of the Bible . They were probably written between AD 66 and 110, which puts their composition likely within the lifetimes of various eyewitnesses, including Jesus's own family. Most scholars hold that all four were anonymous (with

9639-546: The founder's life and teachings. The stages of this process can be summarized as follows: Mark is generally agreed to be the first gospel; it uses a variety of sources, including conflict stories (Mark 2:1–3:6), apocalyptic discourse (4:1–35), and collections of sayings, although not the sayings gospel known as the Gospel of Thomas , and probably not the hypothesized Q source used by Matthew and Luke. The authors of Matthew and Luke, acting independently, used Mark for their narrative of Jesus' career, supplementing it with

9758-420: The four collectively as the "fourfold gospel" ( euangelion tetramorphon ). The many apocryphal gospels arose from the 1st century onward, frequently under assumed names to enhance their credibility and authority, and often from within branches of Christianity that were eventually branded heretical. They can be broadly organised into the following categories: The apocryphal gospels can also be seen in terms of

9877-405: The gospels uncritically, and critical study can attempt to distinguish the original ideas of Jesus from those of later authors. Scholars usually agree that John is not without historical value: certain of its sayings are as old or older than their synoptic counterparts, and its representation of the topography around Jerusalem is often superior to that of the synoptics. Its testimony that Jesus

9996-399: The historical Jesus continues apace, so much so that no one can any longer keep up; we are all overwhelmed." The oldest gospel text known is 𝔓 , a fragment of John dating from the first half of the 2nd century. The creation of a Christian canon was probably a response to the career of the heretic Marcion ( c.  85 –160), who established a canon of his own with just one gospel,

10115-612: The hypothesized collection of sayings called the Q ;source and additional material unique to each called the M ;source (Matthew) and the L ;source (Luke). Mark, Matthew, and Luke are called the synoptic gospels because of their close similarities of content, arrangement, and language. The authors and editors of John may have known the synoptics, but did not use them in the way that Matthew and Luke used Mark. All four also use

10234-479: The initiatives must come from within Gaelic speaking communities, be led by Gaelic speakers, and be designed to serve and increase fluency within the vernacular communities as the first and most viable resistance to total language shift from Gaelic to English. Currently, language policies are focused on creating new language speakers through education, instead of focused on how to strengthen intergenerational transmission within existing Gaelic speaking communities. In

10353-502: The language. Compared with the 2001 Census, there has been a diminution of about 1300 people. This is the smallest drop between censuses since the Gaelic-language question was first asked in 1881. The Scottish government's language minister and Bòrd na Gàidhlig took this as evidence that Gaelic's long decline has slowed. The main stronghold of the language continues to be the Outer Hebrides ( Na h-Eileanan Siar ), where

10472-532: The late 15th century, it became increasingly common for such speakers to refer to Scottish Gaelic as Erse ("Irish") and the Lowland vernacular as Scottis . Today, Scottish Gaelic is recognised as a separate language from Irish, so the word Erse in reference to Scottish Gaelic is no longer used. Based on medieval traditional accounts and the apparent evidence from linguistic geography, Gaelic has been commonly believed to have been brought to Scotland, in

10591-476: The latter two works are significantly theologically or historically different dubious. There have been different views on the transmission of material that led to the Synoptic Gospels , with various scholars arguing memory or orality reliably preserved traditions that ultimately go back to the Historical Jesus . Other scholars have been more skeptical and see more changes in the traditions prior to

10710-459: The members of Highland school boards tended to have anti-Gaelic attitudes and served as an obstacle to Gaelic education in the late 19th and early 20th century. Loss of life due to World War I and the 1919 sinking of the HMY Iolaire , combined with emigration, resulted in the 1910s seeing unprecedented damage to the use of Scottish Gaelic, with a 46% fall in monolingual speakers and

10829-459: The methods and aim of the first model. Keith argues that criticism of the criteria of authenticity does not mean scholars cannot research the Historical Jesus , but rather that scholarship should seek to understand the Gospels rather than trying to sift through them for nuggets of history. Regardless of the methodological challenges historical Jesus studies have flowered in recent years; Dale Allison laments, "The publication of academic books about

10948-734: The mid-20th century. Records of their speech show that Irish and Scottish Gaelic existed in a dialect chain with no clear language boundary. Some features of moribund dialects have been preserved in Nova Scotia, including the pronunciation of the broad or velarised l ( l̪ˠ ) as [w] , as in the Lochaber dialect. The Endangered Languages Project lists Gaelic's status as "threatened", with "20,000 to 30,000 active users". UNESCO classifies Gaelic as " definitely endangered ". The 1755–2001 figures are census data quoted by MacAulay. The 2011 Gaelic speakers figures come from table KS206SC of

11067-532: The modern era. Some of this was driven by policy decisions by government or other organisations, while some originated from social changes. In the last quarter of the 20th century, efforts began to encourage use of the language. The Statutes of Iona , enacted by James VI in 1609, was one piece of legislation that addressed, among other things, the Gaelic language. It required the heirs of clan chiefs to be educated in lowland, Protestant, English-speaking schools. James VI took several such measures to impose his rule on

11186-412: The modern names of the " Four Evangelists " added in the 2nd century), almost certainly none were by eyewitnesses to the Historical Jesus , though most scholars view the author of Luke-Acts as an eyewitness to Paul , and all are the end-products of long oral and written transmission (which did involve eyewitnesses). According to the majority of scholars, Mark was the first to be written, using

11305-434: The number of speakers of the language under age 20 did not decrease between the 2001 and 2011 censuses. In the 2022 census of Scotland , it was found that 2.5% of the Scottish population had some skills in Gaelic, or 130,161 persons. Of these, 69,701 people reported speaking the language, with a further 46,404 people reporting that they understood the language, but did not speak, read, or write in it. Outside of Scotland,

11424-695: The official language of government and law. Scotland's emergent nationalism in the era following the conclusion of the Wars of Scottish Independence was organized using Scots as well. For example, the nation's great patriotic literature including John Barbour's The Brus (1375) and Blind Harry's The Wallace (before 1488) was written in Scots, not Gaelic. By the end of the 15th century, English/Scots speakers referred to Gaelic instead as 'Yrisch' or 'Erse', i.e. Irish and their own language as 'Scottis'. A steady shift away from Scottish Gaelic continued into and through

11543-459: The outcome of the act is distanced from the actual minority language communities. It helps to create visibility of the minority language in civil structures, but does not impact or address the lived experiences of the Gaelic speaker communities wherein the revitalization efforts may have a higher return of new Gaelic speakers. Efforts are being made to concentrate resources, language planning, and revitalization efforts towards vernacular communities in

11662-560: The overall proportion of speakers is 52.2%. Important pockets of the language also exist in the Highlands (5.4%) and in Argyll and Bute (4.0%) and Inverness (4.9%). The locality with the largest absolute number is Glasgow with 5,878 such persons, who make up over 10% of all of Scotland's Gaelic speakers. Gaelic continues to decline in its traditional heartland. Between 2001 and 2011, the absolute number of Gaelic speakers fell sharply in

11781-484: The past. Le Donne further argues that the remembrance of events is facilitated by relating it to a common story, or "type." This means the Jesus-tradition is not a theological invention of the early Church, but rather a tradition shaped and refracted through such memory "type." Le Donne too supports a conservative view on typology compared to some other scholars, transmissions involving eyewitnesses, and ultimately

11900-437: The period treated such traditions very carefully, and the New Testament writers in numerous passages applied to apostolic traditions the same technical terminology found elsewhere in Judaism [...] In this way they both identified their traditions as 'holy word' and showed their concern for a careful and ordered transmission of it." Other scholars are less sanguine about oral tradition, and Valantasis, Bleyle, and Hough argue that

12019-466: The prosperity of employment: the Highland economy relied greatly on seasonal migrant workers travelling outside the Gàidhealtachd . In 1863, an observer sympathetic to Gaelic stated that "knowledge of English is indispensable to any poor islander who wishes to learn a trade or to earn his bread beyond the limits of his native Isle". Generally, rather than Gaelic speakers, it was Celtic societies in

12138-460: The reform and civilisation of the Highlands, which they sought to achieve by teaching English and the Protestant religion. Initially, their teaching was entirely in English, but soon the impracticality of educating Gaelic-speaking children in this way gave rise to a modest concession: in 1723, teachers were allowed to translate English words in the Bible into Gaelic to aid comprehension, but there

12257-587: The region, Gaelic in Scotland was mostly confined to Dál Riata until the eighth century, when it began expanding into Pictish areas north of the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde. During the reign of Caustantín mac Áeda (Constantine II, 900–943), outsiders began to refer to the region as the kingdom of Alba rather than as the kingdom of the Picts. However, though the Pictish language did not disappear suddenly,

12376-471: The rest of the New Testament , the four gospels were written in Greek. The Gospel of Mark probably dates from c.  AD 66 –70, Matthew and Luke around AD 85–90, and John AD 90–110. Despite the traditional ascriptions, most scholars hold that all four are anonymous and most scholars agree that none were written by eyewitnesses. A few scholars defend the traditional ascriptions or attributions, but for

12495-833: The rhythm of the surf. It is sung in the Hebrides at Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve . On 1636, a Discalced Carmelite nun, Venerable Margaret of the Blessed Sacrament , founded the Association of the Child Jesus in Beaune , France, in honor of the divine infancy. Later, the Bishop of Autun canonically established the Confraternity of the Holy Infancy. On 1639 a chapel was built in the Carmel of Beaune, dedicated to

12614-676: The single year of the synoptics, placing the cleansing of the Temple at the beginning rather than at the end, and the Last Supper on the day before Passover instead of being a Passover meal. According to Delbert Burkett, the Gospel of John is the only gospel to call Jesus God, though other scholars like Larry Hurtado and Michael Barber view a possible divine Christology in the Synoptics. In contrast to Mark, where Jesus hides his identity as messiah, in John he openly proclaims it. Like

12733-557: The trend. These icons of the Christ Child were often posed in the contrapposto style in which the positioning of the knees reflected in the opposite direction, similar to ancient depictions of the Roman Emperor . The images were quite popular among nobility of Spain and Portugal. Colonial images of the Christ child also began to wear vestments , a pious practice developed by the santero culture in later colonial years, carrying

12852-424: The weakness of human memory, referring to its 'many sins' and how it frequently misguides people. He expresses skepticism at other scholars' endeavors to identify authentic sayings of Jesus. Instead of isolating and authenticating individual pericopae, Allison advocates for a methodology focused on identifying patterns and finding what he calls 'recurrent attestation'. Allison argues that the general impressions left by

12971-399: The written Gospels. In modern scholarship, the Synoptic Gospels are the primary sources for reconstructing Christ's ministry while John is used less since it differs from the synoptics. However, according to the manuscript evidence and citation frequency by the early Church Fathers, Matthew and John were the most popular Gospels while Luke and Mark were less popular in the early centuries of

13090-626: The young man discovered in the tomb instructs the women to tell "the disciples and Peter" that Jesus will see them again in Galilee, hints that the author knew of the tradition. The authors of Matthew and Luke added infancy and resurrection narratives to the story they found in Mark, although the two differ markedly. Each also makes subtle theological changes to Mark: the Markan miracle stories, for example, confirm Jesus' status as an emissary of God (which

13209-532: Was Mark's understanding of the Messiah), but in Matthew they demonstrate his divinity, and the "young man" who appears at Jesus' tomb in Mark becomes a radiant angel in Matthew. Luke, while following Mark's plot more faithfully than Matthew, has expanded on the source, corrected Mark's grammar and syntax, and eliminated some passages entirely, notably most of chapters 6 and 7. John, the most overtly theological,

13328-407: Was a charismatic miracle-working holy man, providing examples for readers to emulate. As such, they present the Christian message of the second half of the first century AD, and modern biblical scholars are cautious of relying on the gospels uncritically as historical documents, though they provide a good idea of Jesus's public career; according to Graham Stanton , with the potential exception of

13447-581: Was a charismatic miracle-working holy man. As such, they present the Christian message of the second half of the first century AD, and modern biblical scholars are cautious of relying on the gospels uncritically as historical documents, though according to Sanders they provide a good idea of the public career of Jesus. According to Graham Stanton , with the potential exception of the Apostle Paul , we "know far more about Jesus of Nazareth than about any first or second century Jewish or pagan religious teacher". The majority view among critical scholars

13566-399: Was accepted in 2008, and some of its main commitments were: identity (signs, corporate identity); communications (reception, telephone, mailings, public meetings, complaint procedures); publications (PR and media, websites); staffing (language learning, training, recruitment). Following a consultation period, in which the government received many submissions, the majority of which asked that

13685-528: Was executed before, rather than on, Passover, might well be more accurate, and its presentation of Jesus in the garden and the prior meeting held by the Jewish authorities are possibly more historically plausible than their synoptic parallels. Nevertheless, it is highly unlikely that the author had direct knowledge of events, or that his mentions of the Beloved Disciple as his source should be taken as

13804-554: Was long suppressed. The UK government has ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in respect of Gaelic. Gaelic, along with Irish and Welsh, is designated under Part III of the Charter, which requires the UK Government to take a range of concrete measures in the fields of education, justice, public administration, broadcasting and culture. It has not received the same degree of official recognition from

13923-459: Was no further permitted use. Other less prominent schools worked in the Highlands at the same time, also teaching in English. This process of anglicisation paused when evangelical preachers arrived in the Highlands, convinced that people should be able to read religious texts in their own language. The first well known translation of the Bible into Scottish Gaelic was made in 1767, when James Stuart of Killin and Dugald Buchanan of Rannoch produced

14042-737: Was retained as gospel in Middle English Bible translations and hence remains in use also in Modern English . The four canonical gospels share the same basic outline of the life of Jesus: he begins his public ministry in conjunction with that of John the Baptist , calls disciples, teaches and heals and confronts the Pharisees , dies on the cross and is raised from the dead. Each has its own distinctive understanding of him and his divine role and scholars recognize that

14161-587: Was the Greek version of the scriptures, called the Septuagint ; they do not seem familiar with the original Hebrew. The consensus among modern scholars is that the gospels are a subset of the ancient genre of bios , or ancient biography . Ancient biographies were concerned with providing examples for readers to emulate while preserving and promoting the subject's reputation and memory; the gospels were never simply biographical, they were propaganda and kerygma (preaching), meant to convince people that Jesus

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