reformation memes

 

Reformation Day:  the other name for Halloween.    That's because October 31st is the day Luther wrote a letter to the bishop, complaining about indulgences.    He included a pamphlet he'd written about the topic.

We love mental images.    A strong image carries us, even if it isn't true.    So it's no surprise that, along the way, someone made up this thing about his nailing the 95 Theses to the church door.    It seems dramatic.

It didn't happen.    But what *did* happen is so much more interesting.

Only a fingersnap before that day, he could've nailed it, mailed it, or any number of things, and not much would've happened.    But just at that moment in history, you could finally print something.    Nailing it to the door, even if he'd done it, wouldn't have swept Europe —– what swept Europe was copies of the thing, because of the miracle of printing.

He himself didn't print them up and distribute them.    Others did, making copies themselves and translating them, and distributing Luther all over.

Martin Luther is the first person to go viral, right at the dawn of the Information Age. 

Trick or treat!