Creativity in the Early Reformation Period: Technology, Society, and the Magic of Language

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    Abstract (may include machine translation)

    This article takes its point of departure from Marshall McLuhan’s The Gutenberg Galaxy (1962) and Elizabeth L. Eisenstein’s The Printing Press as an Agent of Change (1979). The purpose, however, is not a detailed historical critique of both books, but to take issue with fundamental claim underlying both publications: the claim that media technology is the creative agent behind early modern social, political, religious, and intellectual revolutions. The article refers to Eric Voegelin, Hannah Arendt, Ernst Cassirer, and Wilhelm von Humboldt to lay the theoretical groundwork for an alternative claim: creative agency happens in the form of linguistic evocation. The final section of the article provides a brief case study on revolutionary agency, primarily at the example of the radical reformer Thomas Müntzer. It highlights the role of language in the revolutionary transformation of the early reformation period.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)7-35
    Number of pages29
    JournalLitteraria Pragensia
    Volume31
    Issue number62
    DOIs
    StatePublished - 2021

    Keywords

    • Agrippa von Nettesheim
    • Creativity
    • Eric Voegelin
    • Ernst Cassirer
    • Evocation
    • Hanna Arendt
    • Magic
    • Marshall McLuhan
    • Media technology
    • Printing press
    • Reformation
    • Revolution
    • Thomas Müntzer
    • Wilhelm von Humboldt

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