Bernd Moeller famously declared: “without printing, no Reformation.” (Bagchi 2016).

Before the invention of the printing press, books were prohibitively expensive as the task of copying a book required many scribes to hand-copy and illustrate manuscripts. The invention of the printing press by Johans Gutenberg in 1436 made possible the rapid dissemination and distribution of knowledge due to its ability to inexpensively mass-produce books.   

Despite the Edict of the Worms which specifically banned the printing of books which spread heresy, there even more editions printed of Luther’s books than ever before. Martin Luther’s reformation works changed the German book market, the number of print editions first quadrupled from 1518-1520 and then doubled again from 1520-1524 (Bagchi 2016).

This pamphlet was printed using woodcuts which required only a block of wood, a knife, ink, and paper and it was the cheapest and easiest means of illustrating books for two hundred years.The gatherings were most likely sewn but not bound, so that the woodcut illustration of title page would also be the front cover.

A  quote by A.G. Dickens, a critic of the English reformation: “Justification by Print Alone” (Bagchi 2016).

In this view, the Reformation movement is boiled down as an example of Technological Determinism. This is a theory which states that the development of social structure and society is determined by the technology of the society.