Consider the young, devout, and extremely pious monk Luther. So dedicated was he to eradicating all trace of sin in his soul that he worked constantly to purify himself. Indeed, he became obsessed with the identification and confession of personal sin. No doubt at least some of the traditional stories about the young Luther are false. But they are telling nevertheless. They describe Luther as a pious, innocent young monk who was so obsessed with the purity of his soul that he once kept his confessor for six hours to hear the full recitation of his sins. A monk who—at least once after a long and satisfying confession—rushed back to the booth to confess the hint of pride that had crept into his mind at the thought of the lengthy confession he had just offered! They describe a frustrated Johann von Staupitz, Luther’s wise and patient confessor, who finally rebuked Luther for his incessant visits to the confessional, complaining, “You must get a hold of yourself, Martin. Every time you fart you want to make confession of your sins.” Apparently Staupitz did finally reach the end of his rope: “Quit coming to me with these puppy confessions, Luther,” he shouted. “Go kill your father or something—then we’ll have a sin to talk about!”