RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Carlstadt
At the same time he strongly attacked the mass. Against Luther he wrote Verstand des Worts Pauli Ich begeret ein Verbannter sein. Without mentioning Luther's name, he shows the dangerous consequences to which the exaggeration of the principle concerning forbearance for the weak might lead. Apart from his controversial writings, Carlstadt emphasized the necessity of personal devotion and sanctification.
Carlstadt did not derive his political or social principles from his theological views. When Miinzer's revolutionary measures in Allstadt became threatening, Carlstadt cautioned him, and he induced the people of Orlamunde to separate themselves formally from those of Allstadt. Nevertheless, the points of difference between Wittenberg and Orlamunde were so considerable that the university took active measures against Carlstadt. Luther met Carlstadt at Jena, in Aug., 1524, and thence proceeded to Orlamunde; he was not successful, however, in settling the difficulties. In September Carlstadt with his family, his adherents Martin Reinhard, preacher in Jena, and Gerhard Westerburg, his brother-in-law, were expelled from the territory of the elector. Carlstadt now encountered a time full of hardships and dangers, but
he developed an extraordinary activity
Hard- as a writer. The assumption of the
ships of his corporal presence of Christ in the
Later Life. Lord's Supper is, according to him,
in contradiction to the fundamental presuppositions of Christian doctrine. He found adherents to these ideas not only among the people, but many even in the clergy. In Oct., 1524, he sojourned at Strasburg, then lived temporarily in Heidelberg, Zurich, Basel, Schweinfurt, Kitzingen, and Nordlingen. He was active for a considerable time in Rothenburg-on-the-Tauber, where his sermons carried away the great majority of the citizens. It was at this time that the Peasants' War broke out in Rothenburg. Carlstadt was sent as envoy to the peasants, thus making himself unpopular among them. After the defeat of the South German peasants and the capture of Rothenburg by Margrave Casimir, Carlstadt escaped from the town with difficulty. The collapse of his hopes broke down his power of resistance. He wrote humbly to Luther to open the way for his return to Saxony. Luther took pity upon him, and Carlstadt returned to Wittenberg after he had recanted to some degree his doctrine concerning the Lord's Supper; but he had to pledge himself not to teach or preach. He lived at first in Segrena, after 1526 in Bergwitz, where he had to earn his living like a peasant. Before the close of the year he was reduced almost to poverty, and he removed to the little town of Kemberg and kept a small store. He soon retracted his former recantation and was compelled to flee. In Mar., 1529, he was with Melchior Hofmann, the Anabaptist, in Holstein. Being expelled hence also, he wandered with Hofmann to East Friesland, where he remained until the beginning of 1530 and gathered a great number of adherents. Thence he went to Switzerland, where he was kindly received by Zwingli, who secured for him a position as assistant preacher
in Zurich. In Sept., 1531, he became preacher in Altstatten in the valley of the Rhine, but the unfortunate battle near Kappel (Oct. 11) compelled him after a few months to return to Zurich, where he lived in close union with the Reformers of that city. The preachers of Zurich took Carlstadt's part when Luther renewed his attacks. In 1534 he was called to Basel as preacher and professor in the university. Here he became involved in disputes with Myconius; the people took Carlstadt's part, but he estranged himself from his friends in Zurich. He fulfilled his last public task in 1536, when the government of Basel sent him with Grynaeus to Strasburg to negotiate with the theologians of that city concerning a reconciliation with the Wittenberg theologians on the question of the Lord's Supper. He showed a very conciliatory spirit, which was not approved by the Swiss. theologians.
Carlstadt's earliest writings, De intentionibus (1507), Distinctiones sive formalitates Thomistw (1508), were of a scholastic nature. His journey to Rome occasioned his treatise Von pdpstlicher Heiligkeit (1520), in which he criticized the abuses of popery. In De canonicis scripturis (1520) he laid down the results of his investigations of the Old and the New Testament writings; he shows himself a free and independent critic, but
Writings, does not shake the authority of the literal sense. In 1521 appeared Von den Empfahern Zeichen und Zusag des heiligen Sacraments and Von Gelubden Unterrichtung ; in the latter treatise he advocated the abolition of monastic vows, especially the vow of celibacy. In Sept., 1521, appeared De legis litera sive came et spiritu ; here Carlstadt propounded for the first time an entirely new principle of interpretation which became of much importance in the further' development of his theology — the spiritual interpretation of the words of Scripture. Against pictures in churches he wrote in 1522 Von Abihuungder Bilder. In 1524 he published Priestertum und Opfer Christi. After his expulsion from Saxony in 1524 appeared the most radical of his writings, Ob man gemach faren soil, in which he denies the corporeal presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper, and Anzeig etlicher Hauptartikel christlicher Lehre, which contains a comprehensive summary of his views. He combats the central position which the conception of sin had assumed in Luther's theology, as he understood it, and emphasizes the necessity that Christian liberty and justice must produce fruits in good works.
(Hermann Barge.)
Bibliography: The authoritative biography is H. Barge, Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt, 2 vols., Leipsic, 1905. Among the older literature the following may be consulted: Mayer, Dissertatio de Karolstadio, Greifswald, 1703; Fiisslin, Lebensgeschichte des A. B. von Karlstadt, Frankfort, 1776; J. F. Kohler, Beitrage zur Erganzung der deutschen Litteratur, i. 1-162, ii. 239-269, 2 vols., Leipsic, 1792-94; M. Kirchhofer, Oswald Myconius, pp. 153, 316-343, Zurich, 1813. More modern treatment will be found in: A. W. Dieckhoff, De Carolstadio Lutherans; doctrinal contra Eckium defensore, Gottingen 1850; idem, Die evangelische Abendmahlslehre %m Reformationszeitalter, ib. 1854; Jager, A. B. von Karlstadt, Stuttgart, 1856; G. P. Fisher, The Reformation pp. 93 113 New York, 1873; W. Walker, The Reformation,.
Carlstadt Carmel