Spread Of The Printing Press Dbq Essay

Before the mid-1400s the literacy rates in Europe were not good. Books were hard to get a hold of because they were hand-printed by monks which were hard work and took a long time. Not only that but books were also written in Latin instead of the vernacular and the only people who could read Latin were those who were well-educated and heads of churches. The invention of the printing press greatly altered the lives of Europeans through increasing literacy rates which then influenced philosophy and knowledge, inspiring the reformation of the Catholic Church, and triggering the scientific revolution.

The Protestant Reformation unified the people by the printing press which unified the people with their ideas, everybody had the same ideas and beliefs against the church’s practices, and they became more intellectual and literate

Since Pope Leo X created indulgence system to finance the new St. Peter’s Basilica and Johann Tetzel collected the indulgences, he wrote the 95 Theses to indicate the pope’s abuses of power. He nailed this document to the church’s door in Wittenburg, Germany and expressed his opposition to the sale of indulgences. As Luther’s first public resistance to the papacy, this document argued that indulgences were sinful and did not grant salvation. The invention of the printing press spread his works and idea throughout Europe.

During the early Modern era to the present, the printing press has made a dramatic effect on the Western society. During the early modern era, the printing press was a cheap and effective way to spread the word of the Bible to anyone that could read, increase knowledge and provide education to the world. The printing press allowed people to create and copy the Bible so anyone can have access to the Bible. Along with the Bible, more books were created such as textbooks for schools, reading books for education or entertainment, research and more. As time continues on, printing press created different ways to spread information around.

However, the Reformation probably would have never reached the great accomplishment without the printing press production of books, shown in document 3 by Johannes Gutenberg. It was the printing press that was able to easily spread Martin Luther’s message throughout Europe. People had the ability to access the Bible on their own, not only was the population of Europe dramatically increased. The people unbounded their dependency on the clergy to learn the word of God, Martin Luther’s philosophy was widely adopted. Following the Reformation views of women were

In 1040 the printing press was invented, thus allowing reformist to educate people, and question their teachings from the Catholic Church. Martin Luther reflected on his beliefs and questioned the vow he took

The Catholic church became increasingly less reliable, and in the minds of many, the church was getting away from teaching the true message of Jesus. This began to change in 1517 when Martin Luther wrote the Ninety-Five Theses, starting “The Protestant Reformation”. Martin

(Syllabus, 25). These two theses show the fraudulence that was occurring in the church, especially the Pope giving people “a key to heaven” if they were to purchase in indulgence. To sum up, Martin Luther helped spread the Protestant Reformation in order for a better and more fair, religious experience

Knowing how society reacted to Martin Luther’s theses give a better

Reformation was an important consequence of the printing press however, an even better and more important consequence was Exploration. Exploration was clearly the most important consequence of the invention of the printing press. The explorers of Europe have claimed they were the first ones to discover the “New World.” They traveled far looking for a short route to Africa but came across something else, the Caribbean.

Starting from the statement that Christians receive salvation through faith and the grace of God. Luther also stated, “The churches rituals did not have the ability to save souls. ”Also Luther talked about how the Church and the Pope make errors often. This had gone from a need for reforming indulgences to a whole

The Ninety-Five Theses criticized the practices of the Catholic Church, including the selling of indulgences. Leading up to the Protestant Reformation, advances in writing and book producing took place. Scribes used to write original books and make the copies by hand. Then, in the mid- 1450’s, Johann Gutenberg invented the printing press. He made this invention secretively, so no one knew his failures, or what he was thinking when he made it.

The Influence of Religion The Gutenberg printing press, which printed the very first Bible in 1445, helped spread religion throughout the Holy Roman Empire, and other regions. The spread of the Bible caused perspectives to change regarding religion which led to the rebellion of peasants. It can be argued that religion had nothing to do with the revolt of peasants, however, the different point of views of whether or not peasants should be treated the same caused the peasant uprising in Germany from 1524 to 1525. Religion helped the peasants realize they should not be held as serfs anymore.

The printing press provided people with a new communication medium thus allowing political and religious views to be spread widely. Per McLuhan the printing press was responsible for the Industrial revolution, the rise of nationalism in Europe, and the use of perceptivity in art. Einstein believes it gave rise to the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation, and the rise to modern scientific thought. The printing press also gave rise to literature and the arts such as drama, song writing and poetry.

During the Renaissance was spreading in Europe, in 1450s a German scientist Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, which made him the most influential person of the last thousand years, who put the end of a long evolution in human communication. The most important consequences of the printing press were the expanding knowledge to the world, the spread of religion and the development of science. The invention of printing press expanded the knowledge of the people about the world and the things that happened during the time. Printing press spread the knowledge to the people by maps and geographic images.