The Importance of the Printing Press to the Development of the Reformation
Both contemporaries and historians acknowledge that the printing press
was significant in the spread of ideas of the Reformation.
It has been argued by Elizabeth Eisenstein that printing did not just
spread Protestant ideas but helped to shape the Reformation in the
first place 'Printing was a cause of religious changes, and not simply
a consequence' (The Printing Press as an agent of change, CambridgeUniversityPress)
Printing ended the scribal corruption and copying errors which made it
easier to define theological positions exactly and made it easier for
Luther to attack the corruption of the Doctrine.
With regard to the sola scriptura, an appeal to the Bible as the sole
authority had been made before Luther by other reformers such as
Wycliffe; but an evangelical, or bible based, religion only became
possible once the Bible could be mass produced.
In September 1522 Luther published the September testament, a
translation into German of Er...
Social and economic stresses of The Protestant Reformation age were just among few of the things that impacted the ordinary population of Europe. The Protestant Reformation was the 16th-century religious, political, and cultural disorder that divided Catholic Europe, setting in place the structures and beliefs that would define the continent in the ordinary population. In northern and central Europe, reformers like Martin Luther, John Calvin and Henry VIII challenged papal authority and questioned the Catholic Church’s ability to define Christian practice. In 1555 The Peace of Augsburg allowed for the coexistence of Catholicism and Lutheranism in Germany; and in 1648 Treaty of Westphalia, which ended the Thirty Years’ War. The key ideas of the Reformation, a call to purify the church and a belief that the Bible, should be the sole source of spiritual authority. However, Luther and the other reformers became the first to skillfully use the power of the printing press to give their ideas a wide audience.
Christian Classics Ethereal Library. Luther's Catechisms. A.D. 1529 01/04/2003 September 27, 2004 < http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/creeds1.viii.iv.html >
The printing press was, arguably, the most impactful invention in history. Created by Johannes Gutenberg, the printing press are sets of metal letters set in a frame that could be inked, papered and pressed. The printing press affected the fast and wide spread of new ideas changing everyday life. The Protestant Reformation was a movement that changed people’s mind about Catholic belief and created new sects of Christianity. The Exploration Era led to many discoveries of the Americas and opened up the curiosity of many. Both of these historical events were important consequences of the printing press. The Exploration Era was the more important consequence of the printing press than the Protestant Reformation.
Political greed and desire for land by the German princes and the education of Free Cities resulted in immense support from vast crowds which allowed for the Protestant Reformation to occur. As did the social developments included in Martin Luther’s, author of the 95 Theses, ideas of women rights, bibles/masses, and availability of literature. This developments resulted in certain groups, genders, and classes converting to Protestantism, which allowed the Protestant Reformation to establish.
Johann Gutenberg invented the moveable type printing press and published his first bible sometime around 1450. By 1500, an estimated 20 million books were circulating throughout Europe. The Church's monopoly over the written word was destroyed. Responding to this new technology of freedom, the Church developed a number of control mechanisms. The most obvious, and perhaps famous of these was the Index librorum prohibitum (Index of Prohibited Books). The Index listed hundreds of banned authors and books.3 Less famous than the Index but absolutely central to the rise of censorship, was Church and government use of exclusive printing privileges, which granted favored printers a monopoly right to publish books so long as they were approved by official censors4. In Italy, censorship was primarily a response to the spread of printed Protestant propaganda.5
Having a religion change, many times, takes a toll on those who follow. This would include the hardships of the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Reformation. Religious tensions were spreading throughout Europe, starting from the Protestant Reformation. Some of those who followed the Catholic church began to question how much was true and how many lies they were told to believe in. Many important Leaders of the Reformation stated their opinions about that Catholic church. These opinions would then be evaluated in the Catholic Reformation, The Council of Trent. Beliefs would be revised and practices would be evaluated. The core beliefs would still be Catholic, thus still different from a protestant beliefs. This led to officials of states
Martin Luther’s Letter to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation was published in 1520. In the Letter to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, Martin Luther claims that the Catholic
The printing press allowed anything to be spread throughout the world with relative ease, and for cheap. Prior to the 1436 invention by Johannes Gutenberg, books were written BY HAND, by the priests and scholars of the time which meant knowledge was limited, and the spreading of news would take much longer. Without the printing press Martin Luther would never had been able to spread his ideals throughout the world. The printing press made it easier for males, and sometimes women to get educated, this still did
Ever wanted to find out what consequences the printing press had on exploration and reformation? Well, you can find out right here. To start off with, the printing press was invented in the 1450’s by Johannes Gutenberg. The idea was not new because in 600 CE the Chinese introduced woodblock printing. They even did a little experimenting with movable wooden blocks but with 50,000 characters it was impossible to carve. One of the reasons Gutenberg was so successful was that the alphabet at the time was much less than 50,000, which was much more realistic when carving. In about 1455 Gutenberg had about 180 bibles that were over 1800 pages long printed, by the year 1500 more than 20 million books had been printed, and by 1600 over 200 million books were in existence. The big question is though, which was the more important consequence of the printing press the reformation or exploration? Reformation was an important consequence of the printing press. However, an even more important consequence was exploration.
The reformation is generally associated with the publication of Martin Luther ninety five theses. It was his way to show the protest against the “business” made on religious people: the Holy Roman Empire was earning money on selling people indulgences. Martin Luther got the support of German princes, who were on the same side, but with different motives (they wanted to get autonomy). Luther was the great part of reformation, his influence was immediate, and people listened to him. One of the immediate effects of reformation can be observed in the development of that times writers. For example, Francois Rabelais satirized church, writing about their “business” in humorous way. The other writers, like Erasmus wrote more specifically about the pappy and their role in the lives of ordinary Christians. The major short term of reformation was about the informational acknowledgement, Luther told people the truth about the papacy and their actions, and the reaction of people was immediate: the loss of respect to church, papacy. These results were really strong, because people felt that, all the dogmas...
The Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century is one of the most complex movements in European history since the fall of the Roman Empire. The Reformation truly ends the Middle Ages and begins a new era in the history of Western Civilization. The Reformation ended the religious unity of Europe and ushered in 150 years of religious warfare. By the time the conflicts had ended, the political and social geography in the west had fundamentally changed. The Reformation would have been revolutionary enough of itself, but it coincided in time with the opening of the Western Hemisphere to the Europeans and the development of firearms as effective field weapons. It coincided, too, with the spread of Renaissance ideals from Italy and the first stirrings of the Scientific Revolution. Taken together, these developments transformed Europe.
The renaissance and the reformation were two of the most significant changes in history that has shaped our world today. Both of these great time periods are strikingly similar in some ways and totally different in others. This is because the renaissance was a change from religion to humanism whether it is in art or literature; it is where the individual began to matter. However, the reformation was,” in a nutshell,” a way to reform the church and even more so to form the way our society is today. The first half of this paper will view the drop in faith, the economic powers, and the artistic and literary changes during the renaissance, while the second half will view the progresses and changes the church makes during the reformation.
Though there was no driving force like Luther, Zwingli or Calvin during the English Reformation, it succeeded because certain people strived for political power and not exactly for religious freedom. People like Queen Elizabeth I and Henry VIII brought the Reformation in England much success, however their reasons were based on self-gain and desire for political power.
In 1500’s the Roman Catholic was all-powerful in Europe as there was no legal alternative at the time. The Church jealously guarded its position with so much force that if anyone went against the learning’s and the ways of the church was burned at the stake and labeled as a heathen. Some of the causes for Protestant reformation were the corruption within the Catholic Church because during the time of the black plague as soon as people knew they had the plague they knew they were going to die within a 3 day period after developing the symptoms of the black plaque, so the people affected would have paid their local catholic ministers for indulgences so they were guarantied to get into heaven and not go to hell or purgatory. Martin Luther exposed this particular practice in 1517 through the 95 theses, as he was upset that people and Catholic ministers could make God over look peoples sin just by being bribed through brought indulgences.
The Reformation in Germany, which made a major impact on world history, was started by Martin Luther when, on a quest for his own personal salvation, became disillusioned with the Roman Catholic Church and began to speak out about his beliefs. This essay will describe and account for the progress of the Reformation in Germany to c. AD 1535 by outlining Luther’s life to 1517, the conflict that followed his Ninety-Five Theses, and the disputes of 1518 – 1520. Luther’s trial before the Diet of Worms and the support of the Protestant Princes will also be accounted for. Furthermore, Luther’s Bible, which helped greatly in the spread of the German Reformation, will be described. This essay will help give an understanding of the importance and lasting effect of the Reformation in Germany.