The major consequences of the invention of the printing press were on religion by indirectly taking away power from the church, education by having books more readily available, and technology by now containing the ability to massively produce books. The Catholic Church's main reason for loss of power is the printing press. All the lies they had told have come crashing down on them. In Doc. 3, Martin Luther's 95 Theses spread throughout Europe in many languages (along with the bible) so now the common man new that the church was lying to make money. His work being published contributed to the decline of the Catholic Church's influence in Germany and then the rest of Europe. In Doc 5, Elizabeth Einstein states that even though the church accepted the invention of the printing press, it caused their own demise. She may be biased because she is writing about the printing revolution in Europe and is trying to create a grand effect. Doc. 6 backed up what Martin Luther was trying to fight against the church for. It clearly showed that in the bible Jesus himself was against the sale of indulgences. This may have some bias because Cranach was trying to support his friend (Luther). Doc. 7 shows all the different forms of Christianity started because of the people's discontent with what the church was doing. An additional document that would help was maybe a letter from a bishop controlling an area of discontent with the church asking the pope how to solve the problem.
A substantial development from the invention of the printing press was increased education. Literacy rates went up drastically in this time period. Doc. 10 shows that the printing press sparked the Renaissance by making the classics of Greece and Rome more available. Doc. 8 could be contributed to the exploration of the West brought on by the findings of Columbus, even though he may of thought he made it to the Indian Ocean. Doc. 11 shows that by not only reading classics but also modern scientific novels, Isaac Newton was able to become one of the greatest scientists in history.