A World Lit Only by Fire: The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance

When Martin Luther posted his Ninety-Five Theses on the door of the church, it was an unprecedented act of bravery and conviction. A less-esteemed man might have been sent immediately to the inquisitors for condemnation and torture. The theses were not only denouncements of the sale of indulgences by the clergy, but arguments against the practice that were well-honed by Luther’s reason. The arguments were meant to persuade people that the sale of indulgences was itself wrong and a sin, effectively casting the Vatican as an advocate of sin. What Luther had done could not be undone—not that he was interested in recanting—and anti-Church resentment could not be quelled as followers rallied to Luther’s cause. All of the conflicts that follow the Ninety-Five Theses in Part 2 of the book are directly tied to the revolution that Luther started with this one act. The theses are a symbol of courage, intellectual rigor, and the power of reason to affect change on a massive scale.

When Johannes Gutenberg invented the first printing press, the resulting effects cannot be overstated. Prior to the ability to print and produce information quickly, news traveled slowly between villages, if at all. A polemicist like