历史小径·世界史英语30篇（2）

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印刷机与宗教改革：一场共生的革命

Before Gutenberg’s press, few Europeans could read the Bible because manuscripts were rare and expensive.
Martin Luther’s 95 Theses spread rapidly across German cities thanks to cheap printed pamphlets.
Local printers translated his sermons into vernacular languages so ordinary people could understand them.
Catholic authorities tried to ban these texts, but demand grew faster than censorship could suppress it.
Luther’s ideas took root not only through theology but also through woodcut illustrations and catchy hymns.
Printed Bibles encouraged personal interpretation, weakening the Church’s monopoly on religious truth.
By 1530, over half a million Lutheran books had circulated in German-speaking lands alone.
This synergy between technology and ideology helped fragment Western Christendom permanently.
Printing did not cause the Reformation alone, but it made reform irreversible once begun.
It proved that mass communication could shift belief systems as powerfully as armies or kings.