When Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press 1445 (Annenberg Foundation) he facilitated the efficient spread of knowledge and religion throughout Europe and the rest of the world. This invention had a dramatic effect on the European civilization. The printing press allowed scientists to easily communicate their findings or ideas and also granted ordinary people access to books. The invention allowed common man to express his dissent and led to more widespread criticisms of authority (British Library of authority). Criticism levied at the Catholic Church was published and the views of the new religious order spread and helped the rise of the Protestant reformation and questioned the power and wealth of the Catholic Church. In the early 16th Century Scholars and theologians began to question the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, in northern and central Europe people such as Martin Luther started asking to what reason the Church services were not conducted in a language that all members of society could understand, regardless of their wealth and education. These reasons led to him writing about his arguments, and on 31st October 1517 he published his ’95 theses’. The pamphlet contained 95 arguments that he thought should be argued …show more content…
On the 3rd of January 1521 Luther was excommunicated from the Catholic Church and three months later Luther was called to defend his beliefs before the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Due to his refusal to abandon his writings, Charles V announced him to be an outlaw and a heretic. However Luther was protected by powerful German Princes and by the time of his death in 1546, the Western Civilization had been significantly