The Printing Press and Martin Luther

Garrett Lambur
One thing I love to do, too much, is to think of how things might have been different if you removed one piece from the puzzle. We discussed this somewhat in class when talking about Martin Luther and the Printing Press. Would Martin Luther’s 95 theses have had as great an impact upon the world without the Printing Press to quickly spread these ideas to the masses. Look at Wycliffe and Jon Hus, both challenged the theology of the Catholic Church. They are a great example that it had happened before and I think I remember hearing that part of the inspiration for Martin Luther’s ideas came from the work of Hus and Wycliffe. Within Prague and the surrounding area Hus had a great impact, his ideas spurred on the Hussite wars that ravaged the area. If his ideas were enough to lead to fighting over them how come this did not spread through out all of Europe?

It all comes back to the Printing Press. Before the Printing Press very few of the people were literate. Thus ideas had to be spread orally not in writing and the Church already had a great system to spread their own ideas about religion, the Churches throughout Europe. Any challenger would not have a platform from which to preach their ideas to the people. Literacy changed a great many things in Europe, people could learn information on their own, they were no longer dependent upon the Catholic Church to supply them with information regarding Christianity and the Bible. Luther was able to capitalize upon the new ability to preach from anywhere in the world to anyone, though he did not plan to do so. The printing press was the equivalent to the Internet. Can you imagine anytime before Internet? I can remember some but very little. It has revolutionized how we receive information. The Printing Press did the same thing back in the 1400’s. Thus without the Printing Press I believe that Martin Luther would not be the historical figure that he is today because his ideas would not have spread and brought about the Protestant Reformation.