Most Important Consequence of the Printing Press
Introduction
The printing press ushered a mechanism in which a machine would be used to produce information and other images using a template. Johannes Gutenberg is credited for such a ground-breaking invention that made people in the European continent and everyone in the world have access to information. This paper explores the spread of religion as one of the most important roles the printing press played following its invention
Spread of Religion as the Most Important Role of the Printing Press
The printing press triggered a change in the society and the Protestantism church. It saw the introduction of the Luther Holy Book that was initially in various units. The units were later combined as a result of more discoveries and this led to the reverence of religion. Martin Luther became famous as more people had access to information contained in the Holy Book written in their native language. Furthermore, it helped expose how the Roman Catholic clergy was abusing power and created the need to interpret the scriptures in the correct manner.
The printing press resulted in reformation. There was a general lack of mutual understanding between the Catholics and the Protestants. Either party wanted to gain favor with the public in their opinion. As a result, the Catholics spread messages to people that were against reforms and this led to anti-Christianity wars that brought about modern religious groups and political ideas.
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The printing press minimized the high costs spent on production of books and other materials. Prior to the discovery of printing, people used to spend more resources and time to access information that was done by copying the message by use of hand. This was often carried out by monk and was tedious.
Since the Jews and Muslims did not fully embrace the new technology of the printing press, they continued to use their traditional methods of producing religious messages in hand-written formats. As a consequence, they received hostile reception from other religious communities because of the difficulties they experienced when reading Muslim and Jewish texts. Therefore, these texts were slowly replaced by the printed information that would be accessed around the European continent.
Printing press made manuscripts to gain more popularity, and this made oral communication to be adopted into written manuscript that people appreciated the most. Individuals were in a position to purchase the holy texts. For some who would not make it to worship places, they would read their printed holy texts from their homes and gain the knowledge from it.
Conclusion
The printing press contributed significantly to the spread of religion and the growth of religious practices. Religion spread enormously, thus increasing demand for content in printed form. Not only was reading such printed text seamless, it also resulted in more profits from the sales made. Freedom of expression made people’s opinions to be given priority in the society. Individuals in authority had powers to accept or decline permits to produce some of the religious books, which helped in regulating the messages that were seen as extreme or go against the law of the country. Religion spread since the printing press also increased literacy levels among people in the society. The increased numbers of individuals could read and write can be attributed to the printing press.
