Rhetoric and Civilization

The renaissance was a time period where new thinking, art, and literature were blossoming and shaping society’s rules and culture. One source of this blossoming literacy was Gutenberg’s printing press. As the availability of books and printed material increased, increased literacy naturally followed.




The invention of the printing press is often framed in the context of the religious angst against corrupt clergy and lack of direct access to God’s word. Indeed, William Tyndale took advantage of the printing press and devoted his life to translating the Bible so that “a boy that driveth the plough [would] know more of the Scripture, than [the Pope] dost.” While this context of the printing press makes it seem like the invention of the printing press was simply a magnanimous, philanthropic invention to aid the world’s artistic, religious, and educational progress, I would say that these outcomes arose from society’s race to get rich. Steven Kreis described the time period just before Guteberg realized his goals like a race. Several master printers around europe were each on the verge of finally solving all the problems of moveable type printing presses, but because Gutenberg’s background as a stonecutter and goldsmith, he was able to create a suitable metal alloy for the type before any of the other printers. “In spite of Gutenberg's efforts to keep his technique a secret, the printing press spread rapidly.” (Kreis 2016) Like the renaissance, today’s society and religions benefit from advances in the technology sector. We are able to do family history work in our homes. Modern infrastructure allows easier transportation to meetinghouses and temples. We no longer need highlighters or colored pencils to mark scriptures - just long press the verse we want marked and pick what color on the screen we want to make it. In the future, historians might want to look back at some inventions or ideas of our time and say they came to be so that society or religion could progress, while we might see these inventions or ideas as selfish or greedy.