The Historical and Psychological Characteristics of German Modernism - Dissertation Example

The Faust myth appears in German-language publications soon after Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1450, and some scholars have focused on a possible relation in identity between one of Gutenberg’s business partners who may have been known as “Doctor Faust”. (Wall-Randell, 2008) The cultural construction of the “Printer’s Devil” relates to the medieval view that knowledge unbalanced by morality in the Christian teachings and reverence to God was Mephistophelian or the path to evil and hell.

In this interpretation, the secular society as characterized by the modern, liberal view did not exist in Feudal awareness or as a basis for culture. Feudalism and Christianity were both threatened in ways by the free distribution of ideas and science. The control of public discourse can be seen in the way that early pioneers of the Enlightenment and science in Europe were excommunicated or declared heretical by the Church. Print and literacy are an integral aspect of the spread of Lutheranism and Protestantism, creating a reform movement that grew popularly in Northern Europe, while alchemical literature and fairy tales also circulate in this era in which the Faust myth is first found historically.

German mysticism in this era is characterized by the integration of indigenous nature religions into Christianity, with alchemy itself referencing an esoteric philosophy that was preserved in Christian symbolism but included ideas from Gnosticism, Islam, Buddhism, Platonism, and Pythagorean philosophy. Spiazzi Marina and Marina Tavella write:“Doctor Johannes Faust really existed. He was born in 1480 in the city of Knittlingen in Wurttemberg and was a famous magician known for his interest in necromancy.

His public career extended from 1510 to 1540. Between 1528 and 1532 the humanist Melanchthon really met Dr. Faust giving of him the image of an impostor who affirmed that it is not necessary to venerate God since he himself through God-like powers was capable of performing miracles.