Luther and Tyndale led the way with their clandestine and vernacular Bibles. In the church, the Protestant Reformation might have been impossible in the pre-Gutenberg age. While the Gutenberg Bible was primarily for elite clerical usage, it opened the door to mass and untutored readings and interpretations. The technological wonder can look up chapters and verses instantly and project them on its screen, saving the reader from flipping pages. Religion did not have to end at the church door; thanks to the possession of Bibles, every household could become a training ground for faith. But it was truly a labor. Indeed, it is hard to imagine a modern church, or world, apart from the mass-produced printed page he made possible. and transmission (did early scribes copy an original or make mistakes?). Gutenberg had an advantage: he was skilled in engraving and metal working. It is no exaggeration to say that this innovative production created an object of authority; but it also encouraged dissent. Christianity Today strengthens the church by richly communicating the breadth of the true, good, and beautiful gospel. The printer who mistakenly omitted a vital ‘not’ from the Ten Commandments was vigorously punished by a very bad-tempered Archbishop Laud in 1631. Within fifty years of Gutenberg’s first Bible, more copies of books were produced than in several of the previous centuries together. Gutenberg’s new process sparked a revolution in society and the church. James I and VI despised the ‘marginal notes that slight the text’ and encouraged the production of a ‘safe’ version, which instructed the laity to listen to their parish clergy rather than interpret revelation for themselves. A chance encounter with a retired pastor changed everything. It is estimated that perhaps some three million Bibles, all of different types, were in circulation by the 1700s. It also meant that any minor mistakes would be reproduced, too. Later, in the interest of economy, more straightforward typefaces developed—easier to cast, easier to read, but less beautiful. As more were printed, more people became readers, and readers demanded more books, thus spreading literacy. The chief book being printed was the Bible, thus spreading Christian teaching. The ability to produce hundreds, if not tens of thousands, of copies made the Bible a commercial opportunity and a cultural revolution. Persecution in the Early Church: Did You Know? Whether or not this invention will replace printed Bibles, however, it pales before the technological breakthroughs of a German printer over five hundred years ago. The Bible, which was printed simultaneously on six printing presses, was stunning. In 1454, in the Rhineland town of Mainz, three friends formed a legal arrangement to produce an epochal object. While living in Strasbourg, Gutenberg perfected several unique ideas: a hand-held mold that could adjust to cast any letter accurately and in large quantities; a durable tin alloy that melted and solidified quickly and without distortion; an oil-based ink; and a modified printing press. Religious faith was the result of serious scriptural reading: conviction was gained through individual understanding rather than imposition by a clerical elite. It is estimated that perhaps some three million Bibles, … The Famous 42-Line Bible. With this literary technology, readers could exchange and share their views of specific passages. For centuries scribes dedicated themselves to copying the Scriptures by hand—primarily on papyrus or animal skin parchment. Once released from Latin into the vernacular, the word of God became a weapon. Alongside the authorised Bibles grew an increasingly sophisticated and profitable market in ancillary works: concordances, commentaries and annotations, which aided the reader’s encounter with the words of God. The production was technically complex and required an extraordinary amount of careful labour, which included setting 42 lines of text per page, consuming 2,500 bits of type, drawn from a font of 300 distinctive pieces. Already a subscriber? ), canon formation (when was scripture compiled?) )Taschen 1,400pp £100. CTWeekly delivers the best content from ChristianityToday.com to your inbox each week. Thus, no printed material that bears Gutenberg’s name has survived. By the 16th century, across Europe, but most notably in Protestant countries – England, Germany and the Netherlands – the publication of Bibles became a highly profitable monopoly. Christianity, following Judaism, has always been a religion of the Book. As the modern edition establishes, this was a big book, running to nearly 1,300 pages and weighing around 66lbs or 30 kilos. Meet the TikTok Generation of Televangelists, I Was a World Series Hero on the Brink of Suicide. Subscription to Christian History magazine is on a donation basis, Christian History Institute (CHI) is a non-profit Pennsylvania corporation founded in 1982. The Gutenberg BibleGöttingen Library Edition, Facsimile Edition, 2 Volumes, with bookletStephan Füssel (Ed. By the following August, however, a copy of Gutenberg’s forty-two-line Bible—specifically, Jerome’s Latin translation, the Vulgate—was completed. The printed format (the introduction of page numbers, chapter and verse divisions) enabled even the less learned to make sense of scripture. It heralded a step change in printing technique: whereas earlier forms of printing relied on woodblock technology, the use of moveable metal type allowed more flexible, efficient and cheap printing. Whether or not this invention will replace printed Bibles, however, it pales before the technological breakthroughs of a German printer over five hundred years ago. Each chapter began with a large illuminated initial. Reading scripture, accompanied by the growing pile of commentaries, concordances and philological guides, allowed godly men to explore the message of God’s last words to direct their conduct.