Business History · Episode 35 · July 29, 2026 · 46 min
The Printing Press: The Invention Built on Debt and Sin
Before 1450, books were written out by hand. It was slow and expensive. But Johannes Gutenberg borrowed a ton of money to create a printing press that could crank out Bibles and pamphlets and documents in huge numbers. Science, politics and philosophy were all up-ended. For example, the Catholic Church seized on the invention to sell special certificates absolving people of their sins - a move that made money, but caused a permanent schism in Christianity. And Gutenberg too found himself in trouble - when a financier sued the inventor to reclaim his loan, plus interest. Write to us at [email protected] See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.