The Leipzig Debate

Eventmartin luthergermany

The Leipzig Debate

1519 AD

In 1518, as a storm of opposition raged around him, Luther received a letter from Dr. Johannes Eck. Eck was the chair of theology at Inglostadt University near Munich. The two men had exchanged a number of letters discussing the need for reform within the church over the preceding years and they had developed a friendship. However, despite the rapport they had built, Eck was appalled when he read Luther's work on the 95 Theses and the subsequent other booklets he published in defence of it.

Eck, believing that Luther needed a course correction, sent him a rebuttal to the 95 Theses. Interestingly Eck's rebuttal consisted of a dagger, drawn beside each of the points within the theses that Eck took issue against. While Eck insisted that he did not want to cause a public spectacle, he did offer to take up the invitation implicit in Luther's theses to dispute the points that Luther had raised.

After looking for a suitable venue and sponsors who were willing to risk their reputations and quite possibly their necks by hosting such a debate, Eck finally managed to convince the University of Leipzig to host a debate between himself and Luther.

Luther didn't accept Eck's suggestion immediately. Instead after some consideration, he suggested a compromise. Luther nominated his friend and colleague Andreas von Karlstadt as a stand-in, offering to accompany Karlstadt to the debate as an advisor.

Though this was not ideal Eck agreed to it. Luther traveled to Leipzig with Karlstadt, Philip Melancthon, and a small contingent of faculty members from the University of Wittenberg who probably came along for moral support. The teachers were accompanied by 200 students from the University of Wittenberg, some of whom wielded weapons. For his part, Eck brought a contingent of 70 bodyguards with him. The tension was so thick that a riot seemed imminent.

On the 27th of June, the debate began in the Pleissenberg Castle at Leipzig. Eck and Karlstadt debated daily till the 4th of July with Luther, seated beside his colleague as nothing more than a silent witness and occasional advisor. But on the 4th of July, hooked in by a provocative statement made by Eck about the authority of the church, Luther was finally drawn to do battle. Over the next nine days, Luther went head to head with Eck.

At the end of the debate, Eck claimed victory while Luther disputed Eck's self-proclaimed triumph. Transcripts of the debate were sent to the University of Erfurt and the University of Paris so that the faculties of theology at the respective institutions could act as a panel of judges, thus impartially ruling on who had actually won the debate but ultimately a clear decision was not forthcoming.