Skip to main content

How did the printing press transform both the private and public lives of Europeans?

Johannes Gutenberg's printing press, invented around 1440 in the midst of the Renaissance, gave people more access to written literature, including religious texts and political pamphlets.


Previously, literacy had been limited to members of the clergy, the aristocracy, and members of the merchant class. The printing press expanded the possibilities for people who had not previously had opportunities to learn to read.


The Protestant Reformation would not have happened without the printing press. In 1517, Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church. His list of grievances against the indulgences of the Catholic Church was soon published and distributed as a result of the printing press.


Gutenberg's press also allowed for the Bible to be printed and distributed for private use. Previously, worshipers were beholden to clergymen to explain to them what the Bible said and what Scripture meant. Now, Christians were able to read the Bible for themselves and interpret its meaning. This personal relationship with Scripture was a key aspect of the Protestant Reformation.


In the eighteenth-century the printing press would be used to print and distribute political pamphlets, such as Thomas Paine's Common Sense. Ideas such as Paine's would be key to the Enlightenment, which would later inspire the major Atlantic revolutions: the American Revolution, the French Revolution, and the uprising in Haiti.


Access to printed information enriched people's lives. They could enjoy literature, create a more personal relationship with God, and read political ideas. The printing press allowed people to consider what they thought about the world, thus allowing them to engage with it more constructively.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

A man has a garden measuring 84 meters by 56 meters. He divides it into the minimum number of square plots. What is the length of the square plots?

We wish to divide this man's garden into the minimum number of square plots possible. A square has all four sides with the same length.Our garden is a rectangle, so the answer is clearly not 1 square plot. If we choose the wrong length for our squares, we may end up with missing holes or we may not be able to fit our squares inside the garden. So we have 84 meters in one direction and 56 meters in the other direction. When we start dividing the garden in square plots, we are "filling" those lengths in their respective directions. At each direction, there must be an integer number of squares (otherwise, we get holes or we leave the garden), so that all the square plots fill up the garden nicely. Thus, our job here is to find the greatest common divisor of 84 and 56. For this, we prime factor both of them: `56 = 2*2*2*7` `84 = 2*2*3*7` We can see that the prime factors and multiplicities in common are `2*2*7 = 28` . This is the desired length of the square plots. If you wi...
Post a Comment
Read more

What warning does Chuchundra issue to Rikki?

Chuchundra, the sniveling, fearful muskrat who creeps around walls because he is too terrified to go into the center of a room, meets Rikki in the middle of the night. He insults Rikki by begging him not to kill him. He then insults him by suggesting that Nag might mistake Chuchundra for Rikki. He says, "Those who kill snakes get killed by snakes."  He issues this warning to Rikki not to help keep Rikki safe but as a way of explaining why Rikki's presence gives him, Chuchundra, more reason to fear.  Chuchundra starts to tell Rikki what Chua the rat told him--but breaks it off when he realizes he might be overheard by Nag. He says, "Nag is everywhere, Rikki-Tikki." Rikki threatens to bite Chuchundra to get him to talk. Even then, Chuchundra won't overtly reveal any information. But he does say, "Can't you hear, Rikki-Tikki?" This is enough of a clue for the clever mongoose. He listens carefully and can just make out the "faintest scratch-s...
Post a Comment
Read more