Vittenberg, Germany. It's the last few hours of October 31st, 1520. All Hallows Eve. Luther hurries past the door of the church where exactly

three years previously he posted his 95 thesis.

Luther's target in those 95 theses was the indulgence.

The word indulgence comes from the Latin word meaning permit.

It was a kind of spiritual get out of jail card. These permits effectively offered a way to reduce the amount of punishment a person

has to undergo for sins.

This was possible, the church argued,

because there were some saints whose good works

so far exceeded the requirement for their own salvation

that they had a surplus of good works,

the Treasury of Merit, they called it.

The church taught that these surplus good works could be reassigned to those who performed certain good works or who

had done the good work of giving money to the church.

Or they could be credited to the account of a departed loved one who might be languishing in purgatory.

Pergatory being the place of suffering where sinners are purified so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter heaven.

In writing his 95 theses, Luther's criticism was tentative.

At first, he wasn't objecting to indulgences as such or even to the sale of indulgences.

The Pope justly thunders against those who by any means whatsoever contrive harm to the sale of indulgences.

However, Luther was against what he saw as the abuse of indulgences. He'd watched as an indulgent salesman by the name of

Johann Tetzel had come to nearby towns and profited at the expense of Luther's own

parishioners, people who could barely afford to provide for

their own families.

...