For this post, I'm actually thinking back about 500 years. The printing press had been invented, and some people were just starting to realize the impact that it could have on society. In particular, a man by the name of Martin Luther, who happened to be a monk, seemed to realize that this new technology had some far-reaching impact when it came to the Christian faith.
Let me say quickly that I'm not here to reacquaint you with the time of the Reformation. Many, many books have been written about that time and its impact on the world. Instead, I want to focus on how technology suddenly impacted the Christian faith.
Martin Luther wrote a great many things. Some were short letters, others were books that explained parts of the Bible. Still others were letters to a great many people, explaining what the Bible said about their life, their faith, and how they lived. Many of these have been compiled into books, and you can probably find a few of them at any local library near you.
Here is where a technological innovation had an impact on faith. It became much easier to create books. Rather than having to painstakingly write out each character if you wanted to reproduce a book, the printing press made this much easier. You could arrange the letters, dip it in ink, and suddenly you had a whole page printed out. Even better, you could make multiple copies of the same page in a much shorter time than writing out that same page over and over again.
Martin Luther used this technological innovation to his advantage. Describing just one instance, he had traveled across Germany and noticed that many children and parents did not know the basics of the Christian faith. So he went to work to create a small booklet on the basics, which has come to be known as Luther's Small Catechism. Easily reproduced, a copy could be given to each household so that every family could learn the basics of the faith.
This was a daring use of technological innovation, even back in the early 1500s. Luther published a great number of works through the printing press. He made use of it to ensure that families could know the basics of their faith. He also translated the whole Bible into German and then began to pass them out to the people of Germany. Now the people no longer had to rely only upon the word of their local priest or pastor, but could actually read God's Word at home!
In our day and age, trying to imagine a time with very few books is practically impossible. We have bookstores all over the place, and books are pretty cheap, too. Just imagine, though, if the only time you ever heard the Bible was when you attended worship at your local church, and really, the only person who could read was the priest/pastor. Even though we hardly think of the development of the printing press as a technological innovation, it was one that has truly had a tremendous impact upon the Christian faith.
Let me say quickly that I'm not here to reacquaint you with the time of the Reformation. Many, many books have been written about that time and its impact on the world. Instead, I want to focus on how technology suddenly impacted the Christian faith.
Martin Luther wrote a great many things. Some were short letters, others were books that explained parts of the Bible. Still others were letters to a great many people, explaining what the Bible said about their life, their faith, and how they lived. Many of these have been compiled into books, and you can probably find a few of them at any local library near you.
Here is where a technological innovation had an impact on faith. It became much easier to create books. Rather than having to painstakingly write out each character if you wanted to reproduce a book, the printing press made this much easier. You could arrange the letters, dip it in ink, and suddenly you had a whole page printed out. Even better, you could make multiple copies of the same page in a much shorter time than writing out that same page over and over again.
Martin Luther used this technological innovation to his advantage. Describing just one instance, he had traveled across Germany and noticed that many children and parents did not know the basics of the Christian faith. So he went to work to create a small booklet on the basics, which has come to be known as Luther's Small Catechism. Easily reproduced, a copy could be given to each household so that every family could learn the basics of the faith.
This was a daring use of technological innovation, even back in the early 1500s. Luther published a great number of works through the printing press. He made use of it to ensure that families could know the basics of their faith. He also translated the whole Bible into German and then began to pass them out to the people of Germany. Now the people no longer had to rely only upon the word of their local priest or pastor, but could actually read God's Word at home!
In our day and age, trying to imagine a time with very few books is practically impossible. We have bookstores all over the place, and books are pretty cheap, too. Just imagine, though, if the only time you ever heard the Bible was when you attended worship at your local church, and really, the only person who could read was the priest/pastor. Even though we hardly think of the development of the printing press as a technological innovation, it was one that has truly had a tremendous impact upon the Christian faith.
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