Gutenberg, The Bible, and The Reformation

The following are a few of the many Institute of Excellence in Writing (IEW) compositions which were assigned to me, some a couple of years ago, and some as recent as last Reformation Day (Commonly called Halloween).

Enjoy!

Caleb

Gutenberg, the Bible, and the Reformation
By
Caleb Kautt

Johan Gutenberg was a remarkably successful pioneer in European printing, who lived in the 1400’s. Movable, molded metal type was one of the improvements he made to the preexisting presses, which implemented carved wooden type. Moving in 1438 from his hometown of Mainz Germany to Strousbourg Germany, Gutenberg partnered with Andreas Dritzhen. Together, among other things, they conducted experiments using different textures of types, and other typing methods. In 1450, Gutenberg relocated back to Mainz and began to work with Johan Fust, who was an investor and an entrepreneur with interests in printing. While working as a team, they printed many books, articles, poems, and papers. Above all, in 1456, they printed the Latin Gutenberg Bible. Consequently, they made God’s Word more readily accessible to Reformed-thinking Scholars, such as Martin Luther, and such. Those scholars then, in turn, began to translate the Bible into the native languages of the common people. The authorities in the Roman Catholic Church did not like this because they falsely believed that the Bible would soon become the topic of discussion and debate in "bars and taverns." Although the above may be true, in reality the Catholics more likely did not want the Bible in the hands of people because the people would soon realize the fallacies and extra-biblical doctrines in the Catholic Church that are so expressly forbidden in the Bible. The availability of the Scriptures, was in fact, one of the main ways that the great church-fathers like Huss, Calvin, Luther, and others were able to accomplish the reforms God used them to perform.

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The Boastful Hare and The Victorious Tortoise
By
Caleb Kautt

One afternoon there was a tortoise taking a slow stroll and a hare came walking speedily past him. The hare noticed how slow the tortoise was walking and teased, "C’mon. Walk faster!" The tortoise was fed up with this because the hare had emphasized this ever since the tortoise had moved to the lake a few years ago. So the tortoise replied, "Okay. Since you make fun of me so much I will race against you in a special competition." The hare was dumbfounded and exclaimed, "I’ll for sure beat you! But I’ll race anyway." So they also decided to have the course setup by the fox and also have the fox be the judge. Two days later they met at the course. Although they started at the same point on the course the hare was soon so far ahead that he decided to take a short breather. But instead he fell into a deep sleep. The diligent tortoise had changed his pace at all but kept on his slow jog and after a long time he passed up the hare, and made it to the finish line where he was congratulated by the fox. Well, the hare awoke, jumped up and started running towards the finish line only to find, to his utter amazement, that the tortoise had won and was waiting with the fox, and that he had lost the race!

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Insect Scholars?
By
Caleb Kautt

Booklice are tiny insects that crawl around on books and maps. But they are not there to read the books or look at the maps, though! They are there to eat mold, dead bugs, and crumbs. This "little scholar" is not big at all – usually only around 3mm long. If you ever find yourself looking for these booklice, you might want to listen for them, too, because the female attracts the male by agitating a little knob on her body on a flat surface such as a book of bookshelf. So if you are in a library and you hear a strange tapping noise, it’s not just your imagination but there are actually "live" objects making that noise!

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Untouchable Dolphins
By
Caleb Kautt

Seemingly, dolphins are more intelligent than most other water dwelling mammals. On one occasion a dolphin was being trained to detect things that were dropped into the water. The trainer dropped a vitamin capsule into the water. He then asked the dolphin, "Is there anything out there in the water?" The dolphin, whose name was Peanuts, bumped the red ball meaning, "yes." The trainer then pulled out the vitamin capsule, and dropped an angle iron into the pool and asked Peanuts, "Is it cylindrical?" Peanuts, who snorted out water from his blowhole, knocked the blue ball, meaning, "No!" Dolphins, when being trained become quickly bored, but when challenged with a complex puzzle they immediately become intrigued and enjoy the puzzle immensely. Dolphins learn remarkably quickly. One extraordinary herd of dolphins, called the "untouchables, when caught in a fishing net, would dart out the bottom of it before it was tied up, taking the whole catch of fish with them. Because they are exceedingly fast and are intelligent enough to escape, the "Untouchables" remain free to this day.