3
episodes · 1993–2026
Father Tetzel
Tetzel was a priest in Wittenberg, Germany, who collected money in exchange for documents called indulgences. He presented the papers as pardons for sin and defended a church system that kept ordinary people from reading Scripture for themselves. In 1517, Martin Luther confronted him and accused him of selling salvation. Tetzel warned that Luther risked excommunication by challenging the church establishment and posting his 95 theses on the church doors. Their conflict helped bring questions about forgiveness, Scripture, and religious authority into the open. Tetzel represents the practices Luther opposed at the beginning of the Reformation.