It was in 1517 when a scholar and a priest by the name Martin Luther approached one of the church’s doors in Wittenberg. He had a piece of paper that contained 95 statements, which would act as a revolution to protest reformation of the deeds that were practiced in the Roman Catholic. Luther wanted to open a discussion regarding some corrupt exercises practiced in the Church of Roman Catholic. The act of the papacy asking payments for one sin to be forgiven in the name of “indulgences” was the main reason for Luther to call for change. Many church members did not stop buying the indulgences despite a lot of efforts made to discourage selling of indulgences. It Luther to be frustrated and thus write the 95 theses these were the proposition to change all the corrupt acts in the church. The 95 Theses resulted in Luther to be excommunicated from Catholic Church by Pope Leo X.
The main intentions for Luther writing the 95 theses were the following: He wrote them in Latin because it was the traditional language of most scholars and it was to enhance understanding among the people. Pinning the theses at the door of the church was one of the ways in which scholars used open academic debates. He wrote the 95 Theses so that other scholars would read it and engage in discussion form. It is said that there was someone who took down the original copy of the 95 Thesis and made a copy of it. Later, a student had the text translated into German.
The availability of printing press made it easy for the message to reach many people. Printed materials could be distributed to many people and over large distances. Some of the issues raised resonated with the ideas of other like-minded individuals. As a result, what began as a request for discussion was now turned into rebellion.
However, during this time, the majority of people were not able to read. Many people would converge to hear the information delivered by those who had the privilege of reading and writing, especially if the topic was something of interest to them. This was how the original information spread to the people. Many of the people identified themselves with what was indicated in the original copy of the 95 Theses. The people were the ones who were paying for the indulgences.
According to my view, I disagree with the Robert Darnton’s way of view that the marvels of communication technology in the present time have made the communication lose its history. As it was in history, communication was very confusing. People used to move from one place to another in search of information and the possibility of one getting enough information about something was very challenging. The introduction of modern communication technology especially in the 21st century, for example, the invention of the internet, has solved many challenges faced during the early days.
It is on the internet that one can learn different ways in which people used to communicate in early days. During the informal days, the linkage of information was bit challenging compared to present day. One of the main advancements in technology in the recent world is the development of Google. It is from here that one can obtain any information in one click. One can also communicate to another person regardless the difference in distance. However, nothing comes with only positive impacts thus there are some negative impacts associated with the modern communication technology. For example, compared to the Luther’s time when information was passed from through the use of pamphlets and a lot of people struggled to get the information, the use of internet has turned many too lazy. If an individual searches information from the Internet and does not get it, he or she ends up becoming frustrated. In the early days, scholars could read more than two pages of an article in search of information, but individuals of this generation term it as a waste of time going through the two pages.
In conclusion, it is evident that now we can conclude that Darnton’s view of information is not correct. It is because we have seen that the use of present communication technology helps people to store information that can be used for the future generation in linking the modern information with the past information.
Work Cited
The Economist. 2011. "How Luther Went Viral". http://www.economist.com/node/21541719.
