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Humanism and the Printing Press: . Who should interpret the Bible?. Focus Activity. Using the materials in front of you, make as many copies of this passage as you possibly can in the time allotted:
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Humanism and the Printing Press: Who should interpret the Bible?
Focus Activity • Using the materials in front of you, make as many copies of this passage as you possibly can in the time allotted: “A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. …you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.”
Guiding Questions • What is the historical context? • How are the ideas of humanism revolutionary? • How did the invention of the printing press affect popular philosophy?
What is a Printing Press? • A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a media (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring an image.
Johannes Gutenberg • A German goldsmith and printer, credited with inventing the movable type printing press in the early fifteenth centurty
Gutenberg Bible • In 1455 Gutenberg published his 42-line Bible, commonly known as the Gutenberg Bible. About 180 were printed, most on paper and some on vellum (processed animal hide). • The invention of movable type would lead to the Protestant zeal for translating the Bible and getting it into the hands of the laity. • How might the increased availability of Bibles printed in vernacular cause a shift in popular philosophy?
Humanism • A philosophic outlook placing individual human beings, as opposed to a deity or other being or cause, as the central figure of concern and agency. • Affirms worth and dignity of each human being • Allows for volition and the freedom to decide right and wrong for one’s own self