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CARLSTADT, KARLSTADT

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 349 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CARLSTADT, See also:KARLSTADT Or KAROLOSTADT (1480–1541), See also:German reformer, whose real name was Andreas See also:Rudolf Bodenstein, was See also:born at Carlstadt in Bohemia. He entered the university of See also:Erfurt in the See also:winter See also:term of 1499–1500, and remained there till 1503, when he went to See also:Cologne. In the winter term of 1504–1505 he transferred himself to the newly founded university of See also:Wittenberg, where he soon established his reputation as a teacher of See also:philosophy, and a zealous See also:champion of the scholastic See also:system of See also:Thomas See also:Aquinas, against the revised See also:nominalism associated with the name of See also:Occam. In 1508 he was made See also:canon of the Allerheiligenstift, a collegiate See also:church incorporated in the university; and in 1510 he became See also:doctor of See also:theology and See also:archdeacon, his duties being to preach, to say See also:mass once a See also:week and to lecture before the. university; in 1513 he was appointed See also:ordinary See also:professor of theology. In 1515 he went to See also:Rome, where with a view to becoming See also:provost of the Allerheiligenstift he studied See also:law, taking his degree as doctor See also:juris utriusque. His experiences in the papal See also:city produced upon him the same effect as upon See also:Luther, and when in 1516 he returned to See also:Germany it was as an ardent opponent of the Thomist philosophy and as a champion of the Augustinian See also:doctrine of the See also:impotence of the human will and salvation through Divine See also:grace alone. The 151 theses of Carlstadt, dated the 16th of See also:September 1516, discovered by Theodor Kolde (" Wittenberger Disputationsthesen " in Zeitschrift fiir Kirchengeschichte, xi. p. 448, &c.), prove that, so far from owing his See also:change of view to Luther's See also:influence, he was at this See also:time actually in advance of Luther. The two reformers were, in fact, never See also:friends; though from the end of 1516 onwards the development of each was considerably influenced by the other. In the See also:spring of 1518, in reply to See also:Eck's Obelisci, an attack on Luther's 95 theses, Carlstadt published a See also:series of theses, maintaining the supremacy of the See also:Holy Scriptures (which he regarded as verbally inspired) over ecclesiastical tradition and the authority of the fathers, and asserting the liability of See also:general See also:councils to See also:error. Eck challenged him to a public disputation, in which Luther also took See also:part, and which lasted from the 27th of See also:June to the 15th of See also:July 1519. In this dialectical warfare Carlstadt was no match for Eck; but the dispute only served to confirm him in his revolt from the dominant theology, and in three violent polemical See also:treatises against Eck he proclaimed the doctrine of the exclusive operation of grace in the See also:justification of believers.

This attitude led him in 1520, by a logical development, to an open attack on all those ecclesiastical practices in which the doctrine of justification by See also:

works had become crystallized; e.g. indulgences and the abuse of holy See also:water and consecrated See also:salt. At the same time he appeared as the first of See also:modern biblical critics, denying the See also:Mosaic authorship of the See also:Pentateuch and classing the Scriptures into three categories of different value in accordance with the degrees of certainty as to their traditional origin. He still, however, maintained the doctrine of verbal See also:inspiration, and attacked Luther for rejecting the See also:epistle of See also:James. In 1520 Carlstadt's name was included in the papal See also:bull ex-communicating Luther; after a momentary hesitation he decided to remain See also:firm in his See also:protestant attitude, published an See also:appeal from the See also:pope to a general See also:council, and attacked the corruptions of the papacy itself in a See also:treatise on " the holiness of the pope " (Von papstlicher Heiligkeit, See also:October 17th, 1520). In May 1521 Carlstadt went to See also:Denmark, on the invitation of See also:King See also:Christian II., to assist in the reform of the church; but his disposition was anything but conciliatory, and, though his influence is traceable in the royal law of the 26th of May 1521abolishing the See also:celibacy of the See also:clergy, he was forced, by the hostility of nobles and clerics alike, to leave after a few See also:weeks' stay. In June he was back in Wittenberg, busy with tracts on the Holy See also:Sacrament (he still believed in the corporeal presence) and against the celibacy of the clergy (de coelibatu). Carlstadt has been unjustly accused of being responsible for the riots against the Mass fomented by the Augustinian friars and the students; as a See also:matter of fact, he did his best to keep the See also:peace, pending a decision by the elector of See also:Saxony and the authorities of the university, and it was not till See also:Christmas See also:day that he himself publicly communicated the laity under both See also:species. The next day he announced his engagement to a See also:young See also:lady of See also:noble See also:family, See also:Anna von Mochau. From this moment Carlstadt was accepted as the See also:leader of Protestantism in Wittenberg; and, at his instance, auricular See also:confession, the See also:elevation of the See also:Host and the rules for See also:fasting were abolished. On the 19th of See also:January he was married, in the presence of many of the university professors and city magistrates. A few days later the See also:property of the religious corporations was confiscated by the city and, after See also:pensions had been assigned to their former members, was handed over to charitable See also:foundations. A pronouncement of Carlstadt's against pictures and images, supported by the See also:town, also led to iconoclastic excesses.

The return of Luther See also:

early in See also:March, however, ended Carlstadt's supremacy. The elector See also:Frederick the See also:Wise was strenuously opposed to any alteration in the traditional services, and at his command Luther restored communion in one See also:kind and the elevation of the Host. Carlstadt himself, though still professor, was deprived of all influence in See also:practical affairs, and devoted himself entirely to theological See also:speculation, which led him ever nearer to the position of the mystics. He now denied the See also:necessity for a clerical See also:order at all, called himself " a new layman," doffed his ecclesiastical See also:dress, and lived for a while as a See also:peasant with his wife's relations at Segrena. In the See also:middle of 1523, however, he went to Orlamunde, a living held by him with his canonry, and there in the See also:parish church reformed the services according to his ideas, abolishing the Mass and even See also:preaching against the necessity for sacraments at all. He still continued occasionally to lecture at Wittenberg and to fulminate against Luther's policy of See also:compromise. All this brought him into violent conflict with the elector, the university and Luther himself. His professorship and living were confiscated and, in September 1524, he went into See also:exile with his wife and See also:child. He was now exposed to See also:great privations and hardships, but found opportunity for polemical See also:writing, proclaiming for the first time his disbelief in the " Real Presence." He preached wherever he could gain a See also:hearing, and visited See also:Strassburg, See also:Heidelberg, See also:Zurich, See also:Basel, See also:Schweinfurth, See also:Kitzingen and See also:Nordlingen, before he found a more permanent resting-See also:place at Rothenburg on the Tauber. He was here when the Peasants' See also:War See also:broke out, and was sent as a delegate to See also:reason with the insurgents. His admonitions were unsuccessful, and he only succeeded in bringing himself under suspicion of being in part responsible for their excesses. When Rothenburg was taken by the See also:margrave of Anspach (28th June 1525) Carlstadt had to See also:fly for his See also:life.

His spirit was now broken, and from See also:

Frankfort he wrote to Luther humbly praying him to intercede for him with the elector. Luther agreed to do so, on receiving from Carlstadt a recantation of his heterodox views on tjle See also:Lord's Supper, and as the result the latter was permitted to return to Wittenberg (1525). He was not, however, allowed to lecture, and he lived as a peasant, first at Segrena and afterwards at Bergwitz, cultivating small properties, in which he had invested the remnant of his See also:fortune, with such poor success that at the end of 1526 he had to eke out a living as a pedlar in the little town of Kemberg. This was endurable; but not so the demand presently made upon him to take up the cudgels against See also:Zwingli and 0ecolampadius. Once more he revolted; to agree with " Dr See also:Martin's opinions on the sacrament " was as difficult as flying like a See also:bird; he appealed to the elector to allow him to leave Saxony; but the elector's See also:conscience was in Luther's keeping, and Carlstadt had to fly ignominiously in order to avoid imprisonment. He escaped to See also:Holstein, where in March 1529 he stayed with the Anabaptist Melchior See also:Hofmann. Expelled by the authorities, he took See also:refuge in See also:East See also:Friesland, where he remained till the beginning of 1530 under the See also:protection of a nobleman in sympathy with the Helvetic reformers. His preaching gave him great influence, but towards the See also:close of the See also:year persecution again sent him on his travels. He ultimately reached Zurich, where the recommendations of See also:Bucer and See also:Oecolampadius secured him a friendly reception by Zwingli, who procured him employment. After Zwingli's See also:death he remained in close intercourse with the Zurich preachers, who defended him against renewed attacks on Luther's part; and finally, in 1534, on See also:Bullinger's recommendation, he was called to Basel as preacher at the church of St See also:Peter and professor at the university. Here he remained till his death on the 24th of See also:December 1541. During these latter years Carlstadt's attitude became more moderate.

His championship of the town council against the theocratic claims of Antistes See also:

Myconius and the ecclesiastical council, in the matter of the See also:control of the university, was perhaps in consonance with his earlier views on the relations of clergy and laity. He was, however, also instrumental in restoring the abolished doctorate of theology and other degrees; and, despatched on a See also:mission to Strassburg in 1536, to take part in a discussion on a proposed compromise in the matter of the Lord's Supper between the theologians of Strassburg and Wittenberg, he displayed a conciliatory attitude which earned him the praise of Bucer. Carlstadt's See also:historical significance lies in the fact that he was one of the pioneers of the See also:Reformation. But he was a thinker and dreamer rather than a See also:man of affairs, and though he had the moral and See also:physical courage to carry his principles to their logical conclusions (he was the first See also:priest to write against celibacy, and the first to take a wife), he lacked the See also:balance of mind and sturdy See also:common sense that inspired Luther's policy of See also:consideration for " the weaker brethren " and built up the Evangelical Church on a conservative basis. But though Carlstadt was on friendly terms, and corresponded with See also:Munzer and other See also:Anabaptists, he did not See also:share their antinomian views, nor was he responsible for their excesses. His See also:opinion as to the relation of faith and " See also:good works " was practically that ex-pressed in articles XI. and XII. of the Church of See also:England. In reply to Luther's violent onslaught on him in his Wider See also:die himmlischen See also:Pro pheten he issued from Rothenburg his Anzeig etlicher Hauptartikel christlicher Lehre, a compendious exposition of his views, in which he says: " Those who urge to good works do so, not that the conscience may be justified by works, but that their freedom may redound to See also:God's See also:glory and that their neighbours may be fired to praise God." See C. F. Jaeger, Andreas Bodenstein'von Karlstadt (See also:Stuttgart, 1856) ; See also:Hermann See also:Barge, Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt, vol. i. (See also:Leipzig, 1905).

End of Article: CARLSTADT, KARLSTADT

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