434. Luther: The Revolution Begins (Part 2)

Martin Luther is one of the few people to have genuinely changed the world, igniting a religious revolution that tore Christendom in two, and undermined European tradition in ways that still reverberate today. But along with Luther’s uniquely tortured psyche, three events contributed to his extreme transformation from young lawyer to fervent monk: the loss of a dear friend, a near fatal accident, and a cataclysmic thunderstorm. It was at the University of Wittenberg that Luther’s truly revolutionary understanding of God, theology and scripture began to evolve. His scorn for the state of the Church bubbled underneath the surface, until one day, a friar called Johann Tetzel rolled into Saxony, claiming to sell awesome indulgences, which would allow sinful locals to shorten their stay in purg