From Gutenberg to Zuckerberg

[Koberstein]

A Dimension of the momentous shift of our times is the communications revolution.
Our current digital revolution is certainly a cultural mega-shift. Communications theorists tell us
the world has experienced only three major communications eras. There have been only three
inventions that have served as hinges of history: (1) Writing and Reading, (2) Printing, (3) electronic
media. The printing press changed the world and marked the end of the Middle Ages and opened
a portal to the "Gutenberg Galaxy." The personal computer, made accessible to the masses, opened
the portal to the "Digitoral Galaxy." Note also that the "Digitorality Era" has more similarities with the
Orality Era than it does with the Textuality Era. This led Thomas Pettit to describe the Textuality Era
as more of a "Gutenberg Parenthesis" a mere interruption in the broader ard of human communication.
Our digital media culture has brought us back again to a more original orality. The new kinds of literacy
needed for the digitorality era afre in some ways closer to the orality era. The three communication
eras are compared in the following Table (see attachment).

When media changes, people are changed by those media. A question many observers are asking is,
will our dependence on this new media rewire our brains? Younger generations today, though literate,
have been conditioned by the digital revolution to prefer to get their information not from reading print,
but from other electronic media. This mentality is termed "secondary orality" and literacy theorist Walter
Ong, a term he coined for the new electronically mediated culture of spoken, as contrasted with written,
language. The new media advances secondary orality, and secondary orality in turn is decreasing print
literacy. This is not an entirely happy development.

One thing seems clear and constant however. Humans are homo narrans. All humans are hardwired for
story, as part of the Imago Dei within us. Story and storytelling will always matter. And it matters more in
the "Digitoral Galaxy" than it did in the "Gutenberg Galaxy." Late modern people do not, will not read their
printed Bibles as much as they read their smartphones. But they will engage with oral, face-to-face Bible
storytelling, and through Facebook, YouTube and Ning. Mark Zuckerberg invented Facebook, so Samuel
Chiang of the "International Orality Network" deftly termed the transition we are experiencing as
"From Gutenberg to Zuckerberg" (Chiang 2104:4).

It is of interest that Zuckerberg is Jewish. Jews, especially gifted in communication, have always been at the
vortex of history-making movements and part of the intellectual and culture-change movements.
From Hebrew prophets and apostles, to journalists Theodore Herzl's envisioning and writing the Jewish State,
to the modern building of the movie industry, Jewish people have been in the communications business
and in the storytelling business. May the contemporary Messianic Jewish movement be at the vanguard,
at the vortex, leading the way in creatively retelling God's master story to the masses!
The "People of the Book" are the "People of the Story."

Messianic Jewish Orthodoxy "The essence of Our Faith, History and Best Practices"

 

[AbbaLove]

It is of interest that Zuckerberg is Jewish. Jews, especially gifted in communication, have always been at the vortex of history-making movements and part of the intellectual and culture-change movements.

There is sufficient evidence so as not to completely reject the reality that Gutenberg was of Jewish ancestry. Possibly one reason why Judaism rejects the idea is because the famus 42-line Gutenberg Bible was printed in Latin. FWIW, the Gutenberg Bible that i received permission to view (UM) used a high quality of paper with a "cluster of grapes" for its watermark ...

Sometime after 1419 when his father died, the family adopted the surname zum Gutenberg after the name of the house ("Good Hill") in Mainz where the family had moved. The house had previously been known as Judenberg, Jewish Hill. According to historian John Man, "In the *1282 pogrom, fifty-four Jewish properties were abandoned and were grabbed by the rich and powerful.​

In order for Jews to be accepted in a Christian community it was not uncommon to change their name and become "Catholic" (if in name only) in order to prosper in their trade/craft. Johannes Gutenberg was likely a Catholic, given the time period and the prevailing religious landscape in Europe, although his personal religious beliefs are not definitively known.

It seems that the Gutenberg house fell to the archbishop's treasurers... It was later acquired by the great-great-grandfather of our inventor and stayed in the family. He goes on to speculate why the family of Gensfleisch ("Gooseflesh") house kept that name instead of taking the Gutenberg name that would associate them with the Jewish history of the place, until much later.​

Because of the persecution of Jews (e.g. *1282 pogrom) it's possible that even before 1450 Johannes considered himself to be a "christian" so as to be of good standing in the Mainz community. Ironically it was the Catholic church that was most opposed to the machine printing of the Bible. Gutenberg possibly thought he was doing the RCC a favor by printng in Latin (instead of Germanic). However, the RCC did not appreciate Gutenberg's secret covert effort and tried more than once to destroy his enterprise.

In 1455, Gutenberg printed the 42-line Bible, commonly known as the Gutenberg Bible, of which about 180 were printed. In the present day, 42 lines is the most common Jewish standard, but various traditions remain in use (see Sefer Torah). 42 is the number with which God creates the Universe (Kabbalistic tradition) ...​

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There are 248 columns9 in a Hebrew Sefer Torah, with 42 lines of text in the columns. Was it possible that Johanne Guterberg had seen or heard of a 42 line Hebrew Sefer Torah. A standard that he adopted for his famous Bible with 42 lines in the columns of his machine printed Bible. It would be just like the Lord to use a "Jewish Christian" to print the first machine-made complete Jewish Bible ...​

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Became interested in the possibility that Gutenberg was of Jewish ancestry when first learning typography, typesetting, operaating a letterpress printing press and bookbinding in college and as an industrial arts printing instructor.

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