century. In 1517, a distraught young German priest named Martin Luther levied a list of ninety-five grievances against the Roman Catholic Church. One practice he found particularly odious was the sale of indulgences—that is, the Church’s practice of raising cash by forgiving the sins of big-ticket donors. (One senses that today Luther would rail against the tax treatment enjoyed by hedge funds and private-equity firms.) Luther’s bold move launched the Protestant Reformation.
