{"id":25268,"date":"2016-10-14T06:05:19","date_gmt":"2016-10-14T10:05:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=25268"},"modified":"2016-10-13T20:30:50","modified_gmt":"2016-10-14T00:30:50","slug":"luther-and-technology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/10\/luther-and-technology\/","title":{"rendered":"Luther and technology"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

David Gibson of Religious News Service tells about three major exhibitions opening this month on Luther\u2019s Reformation: \u00a0at the Morgan Library in New York City; at the Minneapolis Art Institute; and at Emory University in Atlanta. These sound extremely interesting and worth going to.<\/p>\n

I was struck by what the Morgan library curator says about Luther\u2019s use of the new information technology of the time (with the assistance of artist and printer Lucas Cranach). \u00a0See what he says after the jump. \u00a0But read Gibson\u2019s whole article, which includes the point about how Luther became\u00a0the model for \u201cspeaking truth to power.\u201d
\n<\/p>\n

From David Gibson,\u00a0Martin Luther as history\u2019s first tweeter? An ongoing legacy, 500 years later | Religion News Service<\/a>:<\/em><\/p>\n

Movable type printing \u2014 invented in Europe six decades earlier by Luther\u2019s fellow German, Johannes Gutenberg \u2014 was gaining steam as an industry, and Luther and the popularity of his ideas gave printers an enormous boost.<\/p>\n

\n

[Curator John] McQuillen stressed that the success of the Reformation was really the result of a kind of \u201cperfect storm\u201d of conditions as much as Luther\u2019s theological concepts: Sentiment in Germany was already growing against the church\u2019s corrupt practices, as was resentment that so much money was going to Rome instead of staying closer to home.<\/p>\n

In addition, local princes were looking for more autonomy and were willing to protect Luther when the forces of church and empire were out for his head \u2014 a campaign that also brought Luther fame, and more grass-roots support.<\/p>\n

But it was the combination of a new technology and a new theology \u2014 and, as McQuillen said, \u201csomeone who knew that message had to get out with little short texts that were very understandable to the average reader\u201d \u2014 that made the difference.<\/p>\n

Luther, working with Cranach and his shop of painters and engravers, was also able to distribute mass-produced woodcut images that mocked the pope or showed charity workers in a positive light.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe took the message to the people. It is like 16th-century tweeting \u2013 throwing out these little pamphlets, these little single-page tracts, and almost poster prints of eye-catching woodcut illustrations,\u201d McQuillen said.<\/p>\n

It was as big a shift as the transition 1,500 years before Luther from scrolls to the bound codex, and it changed the Western world, religiously, politically and culturally.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are on a continuum of media. This is not something that was just invented with Facebook and Twitter,\u201d McQuillen\u00a0said. \u201cWe perpetually revisit the way that information gets out, how and what it is. And the fact that we are still dealing with the same problems and issues that they were dealing with 500 years ago is very telling to how important this subject matter is.\u201d<\/p>\n

From Martin Luther to Bernie Sanders to, yes, perhaps, Donald Trump \u2013 the medium is the message, once again.<\/p>\n

Luther\u2019s life \u201cis almost ridiculously relevant today as to how a grass-roots movement gets going and actually can change something,\u201d McQuillen said.<\/p>\n

[Keep reading. . .]\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<\/blockquote><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

David Gibson of Religious News Service tells about three major exhibitions opening this month on Luther\u2019s Reformation: \u00a0at the Morgan Library in New York City; at the Minneapolis Art Institute; and at Emory University in Atlanta. These sound extremely interesting and worth going to. I was struck by what the Morgan library curator says about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,20,29,38,44,47],"tags":[1088,1386,4865,4530],"class_list":["post-25268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church","category-history","category-media","category-reformation","category-technology","category-theology","tag-information-technology","tag-martin-luther","tag-museums","tag-printing-press"],"yoast_head":"\nLuther and technology<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"David Gibson of Religious News Service tells about three major exhibitions opening this month on Luther's Reformation: \u00a0at the Morgan Library in New York\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/10\/luther-and-technology\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Luther and technology\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"David Gibson of Religious News Service tells about three major exhibitions opening this month on Luther's Reformation: \u00a0at the Morgan Library in New York\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/10\/luther-and-technology\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-10-14T10:05:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-10-14T00:30:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/10\/luther-and-technology\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/10\/luther-and-technology\/\",\"name\":\"Luther and technology\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-10-14T10:05:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-10-14T00:30:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"David Gibson of Religious News Service tells about three major exhibitions opening this month on Luther's Reformation: \u00a0at the Morgan Library in New York\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/10\/luther-and-technology\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/10\/luther-and-technology\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/10\/luther-and-technology\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Luther and technology\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. 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