Product Details

• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Vision Video
• DVD Release Date: June 27, 2005
• Run Time: 55 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000A3WH94
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #158,903 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Recommended!, October 17, 2005

By 

Tim Challies (Oakville, Ontario) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Scottish Covenanters (DVD)

One of my most vivid memories of the year my family spent in Scotland happened soon after we moved there. We were progressively touring the town of Edinburgh and had already visited The Royal Mile, Edinburgh Castle, the home of John Knox and many of the other prominent locations. Eventually we made our way to Greyfriars, the church where many of the Scottish Covenanters were buried after being killed (and often first being mericlessly tortured) for their faith. We were astonished and not a little upset to find that the main attraction of the cemetary at Greyfriars is not the graves of those who were martyred, but a monument to a little terrier who sat faithfully at his master's grave for many years after his death.

In retrospect it seems almost fitting for the Covenanters, who have largely been overlooked in history, to be overlooked where their bodies now lay.

The Covenanters were a group of Presbyterians from 17th-century Scotland, considered radical today, who covenanted with God for the good of the people of their nation. They were persecuted by the English and hunted down all across the nation. A great many of them paid with their lives. Wikipedia says the following of the Covenanters: "Gathering around them many of the Covenanters who clung tenaciously to their standards of faith, these ministers began to preach in the fields, and a period of persecution marked by savage hatred and great brutality began. Further oppressive measures were directed against the Covenanters, who took up arms about 1665, and the struggle soon assumed the proportions of a rebellion. The forces of the crown under John Graham of Claverhouse and others were sent against them, and although the insurgents gained isolated successes, in general they were worsted and were treated with great barbarity. This period of repression was remembered in folk memory as "the Killing Time". They maintained, however, their cherished covenants with a zeal which persecution only intensified; in 1680 the more tenacious members of the party signed a document known as the "Sanquhar Declaration," and were afterwards called Cameronians from the name of their leader, Richard Cameron. They renounced their allegiance to King James and were greatly disappointed when their standards found no place in the religious settlement of 1689, continuing to hold the belief that the Solemn League and Covenant should be made obligatory upon the entire nation. The Covenanters have a martyrology of their own, and the halo of romance has been cast around their exploits and their sufferings. Their story, however, especially during the time of their political predominance, is part of the general History of Scotland."

The Scottish Covenanters is an hour-long DVD that examines these people and the conflict they faced. It introduces many of the most important Covenanters and the men who persecuted them. It describes the faith and the covenants for which so many were willing to die and examines the impact of this movement in Scottish history. It is quite a good little presentation - well made and filled with historical facts and visits to the important historic locations. It is certainly educational and well worth watching. I recommend it.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Paid the Highest Price for Their Faith, October 28, 2007

By 

John S. Oliver (Dallas, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Scottish Covenanters (DVD)

Scottish Covenanters gives a close up view of a small and important past of church history.

This gives an overview of how religion and politics were closely related during the time of the Reformation. For example at one stage the king oversaw the writing of a new liturgy to be used in all the churches but the people disliked it and literally this led to riots. Those events led to the national covenant that united the protesters. It was signed by 60,000 Scots in two days. The document was taken on tour and read in the churches. People repented at the hearing and committed to obey God according to the Bible. And revival broke out in many places where the covenant was presented.

There were changes in the monocracy that led to the new king opposing the covenant and the reforms it brought. This included persecution, imprisonment and death. Ministers were required to swear an oath that indicated that the king had authority over all matters spiritual and temporal. When this was imposed about a third of the clergy resigned rather than take the oath. Many of the church members met in secret and illegal services outdoors. The government attempted to break up these meetings.

The oath was imposed on the general population in 1665. Those who refused were fined, imprisoned without trial or killed. There were solider-like dragoons that imposed this tyranny.

On the way to the gallows to be hung the martyrs for the Christian faith encouraged others and joyfully looked forward to meeting the Lord Jesus Christ face-to-face soon.

Besides the leaders many thousands of common Christians were killed for not renouncing their faith in Jesus Christ based on the Bible.

The religious freedom to go to church where you choose began to become common after this era.

This film is recommended for those interested in Church History, Reformation, Revival, Presbyterianism, Scotland, martyrs and related topics.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clears Muddy Waters, November 19, 2007

By 

Eileen Cunningham - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Scottish Covenanters (DVD)

I have found my search for solid backgrounding on the Scottish Covenanters to be an almost fruitless quest--at least until I came across this DVD. The topic of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Scottish religious history is frustrating because it involves clan warfare, clan division, distrust between highlanders and lowlanders, changing personal viewpoints, political turn-coating, the curious hatred of the Stuart dynasty for their Covenanting brethren, and the stubborn bull-headedness of a canny Scot (which I feel entitled to say since Highland blood flows in my veins)! Trying to sort it all out is worse than trying to follow the intrigues of a Byzantine palace. This documentary is the clearest explanation I have seen to date. The camera crew has gone out into the wilds of the Scottish highlands to show us the secret places where the Covenanters had to meet in order to practice the Presbyterian faith far from the prying eyes of the king's dragoons. Each of the speakers in the film seems to be a spiritual descendant (and possibly even a biological descendant) of the Covenanters. Great for Sunday School classes in the Reformed churches as well as for schools who wish to explain why America's founders so strongly desired the government to stay out of church doctrine. Also helpful for those reading Sir Walter Scott's Waverley novels.