As a pastor he had noted the bad effects of indulgences upon the members of his won congregation, many of whom were going to nearby Juterbog and Zerbst in Brandenburg to by indulgence slips from Johann Tetzel. This practical question raised for him a deeper one, the question of their efficacy.

The young Luther emerges in this volume in his role of reformer. We follow him through his early years of clarifying his evangelical doctrines and relive with him the stirring events that were to influence the fate of Germany, all of Europe, and eventually the whole world.