Print Culture and the Modern World

(i) Fear of spread of irreligious thoughts: Not everyone welcomed the printed book, and those who did also had fears about it. Many were apprehensive of the effects that the easier access to the printed word and the wider circulation of books, could have on people's minds. It was feared that if there was no control over what was printed and read then rebellious and irreligious thoughts might spread.
(ii) Division of Church: In 1517, the religious reformer Martin Luther wrote Ninety Five Theses criticising many of the practices and rituals of the Roman Catholic Church. This lead to a division within the Church and to the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.
(iii) Index of prohibited books: The Roman Church, troubled by such effects of popular readings and questionings of faith, imposed severe controls • over publishers and booksellers and began to maintain an Index of Prohibited Books from 1558.
{iv) Print and Muslims: To check conversion or fear of change of laws Muslims used cheap lithographic presses-, published Persian and Urdu translations of holy scriptures, and printed religious newspapers and tracts. The Deoband Seminary, founded in 1867, published many fatwas telling Muslim readers how to conduct themselves in their everyday lives, and explaining the meanings of Islamic doctrines.
(v) Print and Hindus: Among Hindus, too, print encouraged the reading of religious texts, especially in the vernacular languages. The first printed edition of the RamcharitmantMS of Tulsidas, a sixteenth- century text, came out from Calcutta in 1810. Religious texts, therefore, reached a very wide circle of people, encouraging discussions, debates and controversies within and among different religions.