ffort to clean up the morals of Florentine aristocracy and society. Unfortunately the populace was turned against influence and he was hanged in 1498. The profound corruption of this church---from popes down to parish priests---was a source of major frustration to the faithful who had a profound sense of God’s judgment over His people, the Christian community. Judgment would fall over the New Israel just as it did over the Old Israel. Combined with this sense of frustration with the church was a growing independence mindedness on the part of a new humanist intelligentsia. The church no longer held a monopoly over the thinking of scholars and teachers. The new printing presses had put in their hands a wider range of reading that had ever been available previously. Some of it as pagan, most of it was Christian. But in any case it opened up a world that was not automatically sifted through the scrutiny of religious hierarchy. A man named Johannes Gutenburge in 1440 invented the printing press. The result was revolutionary this production of books had made a profound impact on education. The availability of books gave society a chance to read and think for themselves, instead of accepting everything on authority of scholars. The first book that was printed was the Bible. This was not good for the church because until now the only way for the people to know God was through the church. This gave them a chance to interrupt the bible on their own. Now the people were able to go to God on their own and confess their sin instead of going through the priests. So the church and the priest were no longer needed, and they were no longer able to control the interpretation of the bible. The church abused their power in many ways. They kept their people in extreme fear of God so that they could control them mentally, physically, financially, and spiritually. They would inflict hard labor, and heavy taxation. They deman...
