"}The indulgence peddler and the virus work on the same principle: what thrives in one place will thrive in another. You just have to find a sufficiently virulent soteriology, condense it into a three-ring binder \u2014 its DNA \u2014 xerox it, and embed it in the fertile lining of a well-traveled highway, preferably one with a nearby pilgrimage site\u2026
\u201cDo you believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of all things visible and invisible?\u201d Eck says. First things first.
\u201cDefinitely.\u201d
\u201cDo you believe in one holy, apostolic and catholic Church?\u201d
\u201cYes. But not in the physical institution of the Church.\u201d
\u201cHow can you be a Christian without believing in that?\u201d
\u201cI would say,\u201d Luther says, \u201chow can you be a Christian with it?\u201c\u00a0
\n\n\u201cDid you win your theology fight?\u201d
\u201cOf course I won the fucking theology fight,\u201d Luther says. \u201cI\u2019m the greatest theology fighter in the world.\u201d
\u201cAnd you\u2019ve got the printing press.\u201d
\u201cYeah. That, too,\u201d Luther says.\n\n
Luther is a religious reformer. This is the kind of lifestyle that sounded romantic to him as recently as five years ago. But in the bleak light of 1522, which is to 1517 as Sunday morning is to Saturday night, he can clearly see what it really amounts to: he\u2019s excommunicated and under house arrest.
Writing tracts won\u2019t pay the bills, but that\u2019s okay.\u00a0 When you live a Wartburg, there\u2019s always the republic of letters. And in the republic of letters, Martin Luther is a warrior priest.
\n\n\u201cWait a minute, Martin. Make up your mind. This vernacular Bible thing\u2014is it a virus, a drug, or a religion?\u201d
He shrugs. \u201cWhat\u2019s the difference?\u201d