Printing Press Dbq

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.

Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press led to new influences on philosophy and knowledge. Before the printing press, Latin was the

Jan Hus was a preacher who according to the Catholic church was a heretic. Preaching information that was considered incorrect by the Catholic church, he was a player in the Reformation of the church by changing the ways people think about religion. (doc 2) Through standing up for what Jan Hus believed in and following John Wyclife, books were able to be published by the use of the printing press and then sent to different places, which would convince people that his religion, Protestantism, is better than Catholicism. Martin Luther wrote a book called the 95 Theses which was published in 1517 with help from the printing press. The 95 Theses is what started the reformation by claiming that there was salvation by faith alone, your good works have nothing to do with you getting into heaven or not. This sparked a lot of controversy between religions and took part in the Reformation. No place in the bible says Peter is above any other apostle. Peter may have been great, but that does not mean that he had more authority or was more important than the other eleven apostles. (doc 3) The Catholic Church is preaching the wrong doctrine. The Protestant church teaches the correct doctrine so everyone should follow them. Heretics are writing books preaching their religion and because of the printing press, these books can get published and members of the Catholic Church are reading them. There is a list of books stating which ones Catholics can read and to be a part of the list, the book has to be approved by someone who has authority. (doc 5) The Catholic Church does not want people reading books by people who are trying to convince them to join other religions. Since it is so easy to get a hold of books now, the church does not want people to be reading about other religions and become curious and interested in