The Historical Influences of the Printing Press
Book Publication and a Change in Consciousness and Mentality
Jan 1, 2009
The invention of the printing press has been one of the most crucial and life-changing events in human history. It occurred around a time where new ideas and mentalities were surging, namely during the Renaissance where the old scholastic and God-centered way of thought was given way to a return to Classical humanism through the careful study of Greek and Roman literature.
The Printing Press and a New Era of Education for the Urban Middle Class
Johann Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg (1395-1468) started first printing books in 1450 and his famous 42-line Bible was published in 1455. It was a change from the previously time-consuming method of book-production by copying handwritten manuscripts to using movable type printing. At first, most of the published work was of the religious kind. There was a huge demand for books in the growing European market, where consumers were eager to learn and be entertained.
What used to be a privilege of only a few clerical monks suddenly spread among many an urban household. It is important to note that still many people did neither have literacy to read, nor did they have the financial means to buy books, as they used to be very costly in its first stages.
Nonetheless, the growing middle classes of the Renaissance period were intellectually curious and inquisitive and as a result higher education became open to laypeople and was not restricted to clerics only. Knowledge became, at least theoretically, accessible to most people and was not safeguarded by the religious authorities.
The Renaissance Shift from one Divine Truth to Individual Truths
During the Renaissance there was also a shift from one divine truth to an opening up of individual truths. News and stories from other cultures via growing trade relations presented other ways of thinking and life and culminated in a tendency for cultural relativism.
Many maps were being printed and replaced the previous medieval world-maps with more realistic depictions based on the voyages of discovery of the Spanish and the Portuguese during this period. In medieval times there had been only three recognized continents, Europe, Asia and Africa, whereas later versions of world-maps gradually became more closely associated with our modern and accurate portrayal of the world.
The Growing Spread of Liberal and Revolutionary Ideas despite Censorship
The growing interest in literature also had some negative consequences. Since the general population had grown more liberal in their ideas and attitudes and had started to move away from traditional and religious values, the Church decided to use propaganda and censorship to regain control over the domain of knowledge. As a result, many “dangerous” or secular books began to be listed in Church indexes of prohibited and forbidden writings.
It was also mostly due to the rapid spread of revolutionary ideas through the medium of books that the Reformation came into existence, where Martin Luther openly condemned corrupted practices of the Catholic Church and founded the Protestant movement, which diverged on some essential points from the previous Catholic religion.
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