Technology
One important factor to think about is made in connection with the context of the pamphlet. The opposition from the Catholic Church, Pope Leo X and the papal supporters were clearly demonstrated by the use of propaganda, counter pamphlets and broadsides to label Luther and his followers as heretics. This challenge itself brings about an important question: how then if such opposition existed, did the “Passional Christi und Antichristi” alongside Luther’s other works, survive?
While Luther was not one of the firsts to demand for the Bible and church services to be translated to the vernacular of the people, he revolutionized this demand and his grievances with the church through the use of two main technologies and one contributing factor that served as propaganda for the Protestant cause: the printing press, woodcut illustrations and the use of the German vernacular.
Firstly, with the Gutenberg press, the pamphlet was given the opportunity to continuously find itself in the hands of any reader at very little cost (compared to the cost of hand-printing a large book), and within a matter of days. The pamphlet presented an efficient solution to the problem of printing books which was often time-consuming, given the number of pages a publisher would have to reprint and combine into a single book; it was also very costly to hire artists, people who would write the desired messages or text, and sell it for a reasonable profit. The printing press allowed for iron letters to be rearranged into the desired order and transferred onto the paper with ink in a matter of minutes. Pearce Carefoot, in his exhibition of Luther’s works at the Fisher Library, stated that “it is estimated that a publication of a 16-page pamphlet could be accomplished in two days” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNUb-jXFMSc&t=1156s). What this meant was that Luther’s pamphlets were as quickly distributed into the hands of readers as it was made. Additionally, it wasn’t just Luther’s use of the printing press in his own hometown that allowed for the circulation of his pamphlets and ideas. In fact, much of his work survived because of piracies that reprinted his pamphlets without permission.
Credit can also be given to individuals like John Frith who translated the “Passional Christi und Antichristi” into the English language so that English readers could develop their own stance on the issues of the Pope as Luther had presented them. This process reflected the success and survival of Luther’s work because it received all the right support from translations to multiple languages that helped make a connection with more people outside of Luther’s own control.
The “Passional Christi und Antichrist” pamphlet took to exposing the abuses of the Pope and was intended for a wider readership. Luther, in his 95 Theses and vocal opposition, took to advocating for the Catholic Church to allow the Bible and sermons to be conducted and translated to the German language so the people could understand. Because the Catholic Church rejected this notion, Luther printed this pamphlet in German so that it would speak to a wider audience of people from his own town of Wittenberg and people around Germany. If he wanted his ideas to be known, he had to communicate them in the language that people used.
Although much emphasis was put into providing a German pamphlet to the German-speakers, Luther also recognized that at the time, there were many individuals who were not literate in their own language and therefore the German provisions would be useless to them. Luther and Lucas Cranach addressed this issue by allowing illustrations to be a major focus of the pamphlet. The illustrations helped cater towards communicating with an illiterate audience by displaying large woodcut illustrations that clearly presented the same message that was written by Luther in his pamphlet. The illustrations were delivered in pairs that on one side, would exhibit Christ’s acts of humility and care for his people while on the other side, the opposite was displayed through the Pope’s disregard and disposal of the people he was meant to be a leader to. The illustrations in other words, helped send a message to the illiterate audience in the same way that Luther’s written words would and therefore drew many supporters who had been neglected by the Church in the past because of their inability to understand or have access to the Bible.