“Censorship: 500 Years of Conflict”
DURING this past summer and fall the New York Public Library presented an educational exhibition on the above theme, “Censorship: 500 Years of Conflict.” At designated times a guide conducted a tour and provided interesting commentary. I visited New York’s world-famous library at 5th Avenue and 42nd Street last July and took one of these tours.
The tour began in a large, stately room. Nestled under the exhibition hall’s Renaissance-style carved oak ceilings were rare books and prints dating from the 15th century to the present. The publications all had one thing in common—the disgrace of having been censored at one time or another.
Early in the tour, our guide invited: ‘Imagine yourselves sitting comfortably in the quiet of your living room and reading a favorite book when suddenly the police burst into the house, snatch the book out of your hands and rip it to shreds. Why? Simply because the ruling powers deem the book unfit for the public good. You have just experienced the terror of censorship.’
Yet censorship existed long before the books on display were ever published. The title page of one of the books that we saw illustrated this fact. The book is Alle Propheten Teutsch (All the Prophets in German), which was translated into German by Martin Luther in 1534. Its title page is divided into nine panels, each illustrated with a Biblical scene. One of the scenes is that of the book burning by the Israelite king Jehoiakim some 2,500 years ago. Jehoiakim was furious with the written prophecy of doom by Jeremiah, so he tried to censor the message with fire.—Jeremiah 36:9-27.
That book-burning scene got Alle Propheten Teutsch on the Catholic Church’s list of prohibited books. Why? Well, Protestant reformers frequently illustrated Scriptural texts describing the downfall of proud and wealthy rulers. And as our guide noted, ‘Protestant artists saw in such Biblical passages a warning to the papacy.’
Censorship’s Nemesis
The late 15th and 16th centuries saw the Catholic Church being attacked by reformers. And the printing press, introduced by Johann Gutenberg about 1440, became a great weapon of the reformers. The exhibit’s focus was on the struggle for freedom of the printed word and image since printing with movable type was introduced.
Our guide explained: ‘Martin Luther succeeded largely because of his brilliant use of the printing press to spread his message rapidly, while reformers such as John Wycliffe and John Huss, who lived before the printing press, were defeated by the Catholic Church.’
Printed sheets, or broadsides, against the religious doctrines of the church spread throughout Europe within a few months of Luther’s break with the church. For example, from our examination of Luther’s Gnade unde Frede in Christo (Grace and Peace in Christ), 1523, we could easily see why it raised the ire of the church. Luther urged people to live according to Christian moral standards as revealed in the Bible rather than try to conform to the codes of conduct established by the church. ‘It was difficult for the censors to stop the circulation of such broadsides,’ our guide noted.
The New Testament in English by Luther’s zealous contemporary Tyndale next caught our eye. It was condemned by the church about 1525 and had to be printed in Germany and smuggled into England. Why was it condemned? For one thing, Tyndale’s translation of Colossians 1:24 differed with Catholic dogma. He correctly translated the Greek word ekklesia, found in that verse, as “congregation” instead of “church.” In this way Tyndale avoided equating the body of Christian believers with the Catholic Church. The result? Censorship!
Other exhibits showed that it was not just the Catholic authorities who were guilty of censorship. When Protestants came to power, they, too, used their police authority to ban the publications of Catholics and other Protestants.
One modern example of censorship was omitted that would have been of special interest to Bible students—the banning in the United States and Canada in 1918 of the religious book The Finished Mystery, published by the International Bible Students. The book exposed the false teachings of the major religions. The message stung the clergy; they retaliated. Hiding under the cloak of nationalism during the middle of World War I, the clergy pressured the governments to outlaw the book. They succeeded, but only temporarily. The ban was lifted in 1920.
However hard man has tried to suppress other people’s ideas, the fact is that the truth, especially Bible truth, has never been successfully censored. When religious leaders tried to shut the mouths of Jesus’ disciples, he said: “If these remained silent, the stones would cry out.” (Luke 19:40)—Contributed.
[Picture on page 10]
The printing press, introduced by Johann Gutenberg, proved to be a great weapon of reformers
[Picture on page 11]
The strangling and burning of Tyndale, whose writings were censored by the church