Printing and the Reformation Movements
Sited at the intersection of two historiographical debates—one over the history of printing and its role in the Reformation, and the other over the nature and appeal of the early Reformation movement—this book is a contribution to both discussions.
The first debate is over the degree to which the Reformation may be fairly characterized as a "print event." While historians eschew a monocausal technological explanation—"justification by print alone," as it were[1] —strong claims have been made for the importance of printing as a major causal factor of the German Reformation.[2] "Without printing, no Reformation" encapsulates this view.[3] At the other extreme are those who question whether printing can possibly be assigned such a prominent explanatory role, given the very low level of literacy in early sixteenth-century Germany.[4] These skeptics put much greater emphasis on the oral or pictorial transmission of ideas. Some historians even insist that the Reformation movements them-
selves engaged only a small minority within the population and were met by the bulk of the largely illiterate masses of (possibly still pagan) Germans with indifference or outright hostility.[5]
The second debate deals with the Reformation message, whether propagated through print or preaching. What was the message or messages that motivated the activists of the various Reformation movements? Was it a form of evangelical theology that resonated with late medieval communalism—either urban[6] or rural or both[7] —or was it a theology that freed laity from the burdens of a monastic form of Christianity[8] or was it simply (or largely) anticlericalism?[9] To what extent did the supporters of the Reformation share Luther's central concerns about justification by faith alone apart from works of the law? What, in practice, did the slogan "Scripture alone" actually entail? Did Christian freedom extend to secular matters, and, alternatively, did divine law properly have binding force in both spiritual and secular realms? These questions arise out of the debate over the content and reception of the printed and preached word.
These two debates overlap not only on the issue of printed propaganda, its message and efficacy, but also on the significance and role of Martin Luther, the foremost author of printed propaganda in the early years of the Reformation movement. Many older accounts have treated the German Reformation as something of a one-man show. As the Göttingen church historian Bernd Moeller put it in a classic 1965 article, "To caricature the common description, Luther generally appears as a great sage, a kind of spiritual colossus, who attains his Reformation breakthrough, draws the broad consequences, and then drags people with him as he strides through history handing out his truths right and left."[10] More recently historians have suggested a much diminished role for Luther, attributing equal if not greater significance to Huldrych Zwingli[11] and to the various local reformers in cities and countryside throughout south and central Germany. How important is Martin Luther really in the history of the early Reformation movements? What authority did his name and his message actually enjoy? Did this change over time? And what role did print play in establishing and propagating this authority?
In addressing the issues of "printing, propaganda, and Martin Luther," this book treats these larger questions of the Reformation as a "print event," the nature and appeal of various "Reformation messages," and the role of Martin Luther among other publicists, preachers, and opinion leaders in the early German Reformation. In so
doing, it attempts to explore the dialect between the fixity of print and the fluidity of reception and to probe the role of the medium in not only propagating but even shaping its message.