Print Media & the Protestant Reformation

The Harvey J. Graff article states that,

" [Martin Luther] was aware of the sensitive nature of his these and made his challenge patiently through official channels. When no response arrived, he sent handwritten copies of the theses to some friends for clarification. Those copoes were reproduced and circulated, and were even translated into German. They spread widely, and soon all of Germany, and then all of Christendom, had been aroused by Luther's theses." (p.106)

This directly relates to the constitutive choices Paul Starr writes about. Even though the printing press was in use (approx. 1450), it did not cause the Protestant Reformation; other facotrs (constitutive choices) led to the reformation. There would not have been a reformation if there had not been religious unrest, or if Martin Luther's requests to the church had not gone unheard, or if there were not people in power that agreed something needed to be done.

Photo of Martin Luther provided by: http://unashamedworkman.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/luther.jpg