Andreas Karlstadt

What did people in the sixteenth century make of Martin Luther and his new theological ideas when he started? Andreas Karlstadt functions as an interesting case study that shows how some people may have responded to Luther and the emerging Protestant Reformation.

Karlstadt started life as a Catholic priest and university lecturer, but over time he became increasingly radical, first becoming a Lutheran and then critiquing Luther for not taking reform far or fast enough. He provides an intriguing counterpoint to the key players of the Reformation, reminding us that other, more 'ordinary' people were involved in spreading and creating the Protestant movement in Europe as well.

Andreas Karlstadt: Biography

Before we consider Karlstadt's influence on the Reformation, let's first take a moment to look at where he came from and how his life developed.

Fig. 1 - Woodcut print of Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt.

Early Life and Career in the Church

Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt (usually known as Andreas Karlstadt) was born in the town of Karlstadt in 1486.

In 1510, Karlstadt graduated with a doctorate in theology from the University of Wittenberg. He was invited to become an archdeacon and the chair of the theology faculty at the university. His rise was meteoric. Just the next year, in 1511, he became chancellor of the University of Wittenberg.

In 1515, Andreas Karlstadt moved to Rome, where he spent two years studying church and secular law. He was appalled by what he saw as the abuses in the Catholic Church while in Rome, and so in 1516, he published his 151 Theses - a set of critiques against the corruption he perceived in the Church.

Early Reformation Years

Andreas Karlstadt got to know Martin Luther during this time, since Luther was a colleague of his in the theological faculty at the University of Wittenberg. Although he was originally dismissive of Luther's ideas, Karlstadt soon became one of his primary supporters, even defending Luther during a public debate with Johann Eck in Leipzig in 1519. It is telling that by 1520, when Pope Leo X issued a papal bull threatening Luther with excommunication from the Church, Karlstadt was threatened with the same fate in the document.

During this time, Andreas Karlstadt wrote prolifically - publishing many pamphlets (in German) to be read by the laity on several Protestant topics. In 1521, he took the revolutionary step of holding the first evangelical Holy Communion - without the proper church vestments, without elevating the bread and wine, and encouraging the laity to receive both the bread and the wine.

Fig. 2 - Leonardo da Vinci's Painting of the Last Supper, depicting the Christian rite of Holy Communion. Medieval theologians taught that Christ was physically present in the bread and wine, whereas some radical reformers like Karlstadt believed that Christ was only symbolically present.

Andreas Karlstadt's radicality further developed the following year. He published a pamphlet 'On the Rejection of Images' (1522), advocating that all sacred images, relics, and statues should be removed from churches. He then married a young noblewoman, becoming one of the first priests to break the Catholic vow of celibacy and get married. Karlstadt stopped wearing priestly vestments altogether and walked about in peasants' clothing, asking to be called 'Brother Andreas'.

In 1523, Andreas Karlstadt became the pastor of a church in Orlamuende, Germany, where he introduced his own reforms. These included the rejection of infant baptism, the removal of images, and the preaching that Christ was not physically present in the bread and wine of the Holy Communion.

Fallout with Luther

Luther became increasingly frustrated with Karlstadt's radicality, since he believed that reforms needed to be brought in slowly to allow the laity time to come to terms with the changes. Luther also disagreed with several of Karlstadt's theological beliefs.

From 1524 onwards, Luther started to publish texts criticising Karlstadt, even arguing that Karlstadt should not publish pamphlets without Luther's permission. In the same year, Karlstadt was expelled from Saxony for his radical views.

Peasant War

In 1524, the German Peasants War broke out and Andreas Karlstadt was threatened by both sides. He asked Luther for protection, and Luther agreed, hiding Karlstadt in his house for eight weeks on the condition that Karlstadt abandoned some of his earlier beliefs.

Luther managed to convince the officials of Saxony to allow Andreas Karlstadt to remain, as long as he did not teach, preach or publish any pamphlets. Therefore, between 1525 and 1529, Karlstadt worked as a peasant farmer in Wittenberg.

Last Years

Andreas Karlstadt was unfulfilled with a life of farming, and he jumped at the chance to move to Switzerland through his contacts with Swiss theologian Huldrych Zwingli. He became a pastor of a church in Zurich, and then a university lecturer at Basel, teaching the Old Testament.

In 1541, Andreas Karlstadt died in Basel as a result of catching the plague.

Andreas Karlstadt: 151 Theses

A year before Luther famously nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the All Saints' Church in Wittenberg, Karlstadt published his own 151 Theses and handed them directly to Pope Leo X in Rome!

Fig. 3 - A painting of Pope Leo X, to whom Karlstadt addressed his 151 Theses.

These theses were an early sign of Karlstadt's transition from the traditional, Catholic way of thinking to a radical, Protestant way of thinking. Most of the theses critiqued Catholic Church doctrine on issues such as grace, free will, and nature. Karlstadt's 151 Theses show a clear influence from the ideas of St Augustine.

Andreas Karlstadt: Religion

Karlstadt cannot be easily categorised into a 'type' of Protestant, partially because his beliefs evolved. At the start of the Reformation, he transitioned from a Catholic, scholastic position to a Lutheran position. By the end of his life, he had abandoned Lutheranism and he most resembled the Reformed tradition of John Calvin and Huldrych Zwingli, although Karlstadt himself never saw himself within this branch of Protestantism.

The fact that it is so hard to neatly package Karlstadt in a box can be a helpful reminder of the complexity and diversity of viewpoints at the start of the Protestant Reformation. As historian Amy Nelson Burnett argues,

Andreas Karlstadt: Beliefs

As we have already mentioned, Karlstadt's beliefs shifted over time. But what were some of the beliefs that he pioneered or concluded with? The following list outlines eight of Karlstadt's most significant beliefs.

1. He believed that priests should be allowed to marry.
2. He believed that Christ was not physically present in the Eucharist. Instead, he thought that Christ was symbolically present in the Eucharist.
3. He believed that elevating the bread and wine at the Eucharist was a sign of idolatry.
4. He believed that Luther was not pressing ahead with reform quickly enough.
5. He believed that all images and relics should be removed from churches because they distracted the believers from focusing on Christ.
6. He believed that the laity should receive both bread and wine at Holy Communion, not just the bread.
7. He believed that infant baptism was wrong - only adults should be baptised.
8. He believed, unlike Luther, that the seventh day of the week was to be kept as a day free from work. This meant that some reformers denounced him as a heretic.

Andreas Karlstadt: Reformation

What are historians to make of Andreas Karlstadt's significance to the Protestant Reformation?

By and large, the history books have condemned Andreas Karlstadt to obscurity and ridicule. Many tend to see him as a strange figure who didn't fit in anywhere and who failed to have a significant impact on the Reformation.

Several voices have challenged this view, with some success. Hermann Barge's large work on Andreas Karlstadt sought to critique the negative view of this radical theologian. He pointed out that historians of the Reformation often focus so much on the key players that they overlook the contributions of lesser figures who may better represent 'the sentiment of the common people'.²

Fig. 4 - Illustration of the Old University of Basel (c.1615). This is where Karlstadt eventually settled as an Old Testament lecturer before his death in 1541.

And this latter argument is the one that, perhaps, continues to shed most light on Karlstadt and the Reformation. What Andreas Karlstadt shows us, above all, is that the Reformation did not remain a singular movement, but instead split into many different Reformations. Each individual movement contained many actors, each with their own belief systems and contributions to the unfolding challenge to the authority of the Catholic Church.

For example, Carter Lindberg argues that Andreas Karlstadt shows the intensifying tensions between the moderate reformers: those who wanted change to be brought about slowly, and those who wanted rapid transformation.³

To summarise Andreas Karlstadt's significance for Reformation history, historian Hans Hillerbrand remarks,