The Victory of the Printing Press?

The Christian author of The Well Trained Mind, a guide to training children in the classical model of education had made this interesting quote: (cf the full article here)

"I want to suggest — classical educator that I am — that in our immense and proper regard for the Word of God, we have elevated words in general (books and the Christian print culture which grew out of the American publishing scene) to a wildly exaggerated place of respect. We have allowed publishers, writers, and curriculum authors an authority which is unmatched even by the authority of the local body of Christ. I am not suggesting that we somehow lower our view of Scripture, but I am suggesting that the victory of the printing press has not strengthened Christianity. If it had, wouldn't the church of Christ be stronger now than in the first century? Look at the fragmented, divisive, confrontational state of American Christianity; look at the hundreds of Bible versions that jostle for supremacy on bookstore shelves; look at the power which theologically bad books (from Left Behind to Chicken Soup for the Soul) exert over American Christians; look at the place that the Christian bookstore has assumed in determining the average Christian's view of marriage, material gain, and work. And then consider that the New Testament church flourished with a low literacy rate, with Scriptures that were not printed and thus had to be read aloud — and so were always read and interpreted within the context of the obedient, faithful, local, believing community. The church of Christ, not textbook writers, should be responsible for providing the central Christian story that must inform all true education. "

This writer has seen what Catholics have been saying since the reformation. It sounds like she has been reading Catholic apologetic arguments! The availability of the Bible provided by the printing press did not ultimately strengthen the Church. She makes the point that the New Testament Church flourished despite a low literacy rate and the absence of a personal New Testament for every believer. How did they get the Truth? She says: "The scriptures were read to them within the context of the obedient, faithful, local community." Catholics would phrase it more like this; "the Holy Scriptures were read to the faithful in the context of the Mass during the liturgy of the word and the homily was used to teach the the faithful about what they just heard." All within the context of the Church which is the pillar and foundation of truth (1 Tim 3:15) Daily Mass attendance can provide an illiterate person with the entire bible in just three years.

This Christian author/educator goes on to say "The gospel is understood within a faithful believing community, not alone with one's Bible; and gospel-based education is formulated and applied within a faithful believing community, not alone with one's Bible and a copy of The Well-Trained Mind (or any other homeschooling book)."

It's thinking like this that may ultimately lead this writer to that ancient early Church. I pray she embraces what she finds.