Printing Press, Protestant Reformation, and Humanism!

The real innovation in culture, related to print, was the Protestant Reformation in the early 16th century. Martin Luther began the Protestant Reformation in the early to mid 1500’s in Germany. The Reformation was the first massive revolutionary movement, which wouldn’t have had such an impact if it wasn’t for the invention of the printing press by Gutenberg in Mid 1400’s. The movement began with the need to reform the Catholic Church. Martin Luther was a monk who believed that the Church and all of its powerful officials were scamming the members by telling them that they needed to pay for indulgences to forgiven for their sins. He was a very persuasive writer; he wrote many writings including books expressing his beliefs and opinion of the current Catholic Church. The point is that Martin Luther had a point that he felt a really strong need to express to a mass amount of people, so he used the power of the printing press. The only thing he did wrong was under estimate how influential his works would actually be and what the result of that influence would be: revolution. Probably the most important thing that Martin Luther did was translate the bible in German which made it easier to read for commoners and allowed people to read the truth instead of having someone tell you their version. The printing press also contributed to the spread of humanism. Gutenberg’s printing press in 1445 helped spread knowledge, not with the antique writings; they also studied science, medicine, and engineering. Humanism society rewarded individuals for their personal improvement with an emphasis on education, desire to excel, civic responsibility and moral duty. Renaissance means re-birth, with all of these changes in the world it was apparent that culture had changed for the better.