Printing, Propaganda, and Martin Luther

by Mark U. Edwards Jr. (editor)

Mark Edwards's pioneering work on the Reformation as a"print event" traces how Martin Luther, the first Protestant, became the central figure in the West's first media campaign.He shows how Luther and his allies spread their messageusing a medium that was itself pamphlets writtenin the vernacular and directed to the broadest readingpublic. Closely examining Protestant and Catholic pamphletspublished in Strasbourg in the early years of theReformation, Edwards demonstrates Luther's dominance ofthe medium, the challenges posed by Catholic counterattacks, the remarkable success of Luther's New Testament, and theunforeseen effects of the new medium. This volume hasopened an exciting new vista on the European Reformation.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

244 pages, Paperback

First published August 25, 1994

Reviews

[Kaufmak · Rating 5 out of 5]

In case you didn't know, the Protestant Reformation was kind of a big deal. Growing up a Catholic, with a Catholic education, we weren't really told much about it. As a matter of fact I had one religion teacher who insisted that Martin Luther was insane. It wasn't until college that I started to get a different view of Luther and the Reformation in general. A book that came late to my understanding of the Reformation also put it into a wonderful perspective, especially the leader of the movement, the aforementioned Augustinian monk.

Printing, Propaganda and Martin Luther reveals just how immense the Reformation was to Central Europe, not just in its ideas, but also in its output, again, especially of Luther himself. According to Edwards's research between 1500-1530 Luther accounted for 20% of all pamphlets published throughout the Holy Roman Empire, 5 times more than the entire Catholic output during the same time frame. Agreeing or disagreeing with Luther's theology isn't the point here, it is understanding how determined he was and how eager and hungry the literate audience was for something new. It also demonstrates the hubris and complete misreading of the situation that dogged the Catholic Church. This myopic view hamstrung the Church at the time, and unfortunately the parallels throughout the next 500 years are hard to miss.

Edwards also makes a great presentation surrounding how the explosion of print was fueled by the Reformation. Not only were evangelicals wanting to print, but there was a willing audience making the novelty of the printed word into a staple of early modern life. With the Reformation the evolution of literacy, information and communication would have been radically different. Without the demand for Protestant materials, it is not too far of a stretch to think that the Church would have begun to control printing presses much more than they actually did. I'm sure if given the choice, the popes during the first years of the Reformation would have loved to put that genie back into the bottle. Lucky for all of us they didn't get the chance.

[Aileen Lundeen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was very interesting, and I shared it with my oldest son. If you are interested in the printing press, Martin Luther, the reformation, or just history in general then you will enjoy this book.

[Hannah]

A great read for anyone interested in printing and propaganda and of course, Martin Luther. Read selected chapters for a class and did not finish entire book.

[Katrinka]

Really interesting examination of part of the early Reformation pamphleteering days.

[Elizabeth Eflin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative. Edwards does an excellent job explaining the events of printing in the Reformation, as well as explaining the data of material printed through the use of various charts.