Discuss the Appeal of Protestantism in Terms of Its Presentation

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The Answer is Among the reasons why so many Europeans left the established Catholic Church, one should consider the new media that Luther and other Protestants had at their disposal and how these forms of communication were utilized for the greatest effect.Luther took full advantage of the printing press.He wrote in Latin, but more importantly he wrote in German in a style he popularized through his treatises and through his own translation of the New Testament.He had printed what he wrote.By the end of 1521, more than 100 editions of his works had already appeared.
In addition to their message and polemic in print, reformers also utilized illustrations to reach out to audiences, both literate and semiliterate.Illustrated texts were far more accessible than blocks of type.The message conveyed in a woodcut could be grasped much quicker and with perhaps greater impact than strings of texts.A literate person could read them aloud to a circle of illiterate listeners.
The message itself reached a broad spectrum of listeners.The evidence of the growth of lay involvement in late medieval Catholicism can be seen in the rise of confraternities, and the appeal of books of prayer and devotion indicate that many were seeking a deeper or more intimate relationship with the divine.Luther simplified the access to God; faith alone qualified the believer to be acceptable to God.Furthermore, Luther dismantled the spiritual-secular division.Every Christian was likewise a priest with equal standing before God and not separated by gender.In principle, this seemed to offer women an equal religious standing and role to that of men, something astonishingly different from medieval Christianity that relegated women to subsidiary ministerial roles.Luther and like-minded reformers significantly enlarged the responsibilities of secular authorities.They were encouraged to initiate reform, which many used to confiscate church property, as they closed monasteries and convents.

Discuss the Appeal of Protestantism in Terms of Its Presentation

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