Disputatio excellentium D. Doctoru[m] Iohannis Eccii & Andreae Carolostadii q(uae) cepta est Lipsi(a)e XXVII. Iunij. AN. M.D.XIX. Disputatio secunda D. Doctorum Iohannis Eccii & Andreae Carolostadii q(uae) cepit XV. Iulij. Disputatio eiusdem eiusdem d. Iohannis Eccii & D. Martini Lutheri Augustiniani q(uae) cepit IIII. Iulij

No place: ?Erfurt: No printer: ?Matthes Maler, No date:, 1519. ONE OF THREE PRINTINGS, ALL PRINTED IN 1519, ALL BY THE SAME PRINTER. This, the second listed by Benzing, has "Responsio Carolostadij" on leaf A6r, line 24 and "Responsio Eckij" on leaf B1r, line 3 (rather than Responsio Carolostadij." and "Responsio. Eckij.", as in the first. The third issue has "Eccii" on the title in Gothic character.) For the variants, see Dommer, "Lutherdrucke auf der Hamburger Stadtbibliüthek" p. 41 f. Nr. 79 and 80. Hardcover. Fine. Bound in 19th c. drab wrappers (sunned.) The text is in fine condition, a few leaves lightly toned, title and blank verso of final leaf lightly soiled. Title with short bibliographical reference and 2 stamps (Nuremberg city library with deaccession stamp). A printed, eye-witness transcript of the Leipzig Disputation of 1519. The debate took place from June 27th to July 15th between the reformers Martin Luther (1483-1546) and Luther's Wittenberg colleague Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt (1486-1541) representing emerging "Protestant" views, and the Ingolstadt theologian Johannes Eck (1486-1543), representing Church orthodoxy. This is the first printed account of the entire debate. A notarial transcript ("protocol") of about two-thirds of the debate was printed at about the same time (see note in references) but precedence cannot be established. No other edition of the complete text appeared until 1729.

"In the fateful series of events that led from Martin Luther's writing of the Ninety-Five Theses on the power of indulgences in 1517 to his condemnation at the Diet of Worms in 1521, few were more significant than the Leipzig Debate of 1519... It began as a disputation between Karlstadt and Eck on free will and grace in Christian life... When the topic turned to the authority of the church and papacy, however, Luther stepped in, with fateful consequences... At the debate, he stood in front of gathered theologians, students, and nobility, and publicly expressed sympathy for the Greek Church and the Hussites, declared that popes and councils could err, and submitted himself to the authority of Holy Scripture above all...

"Afterwards, Luther's case seemed to his critics all the more urgent, and they moved quickly to secure his excommunication as a heretic. Once reports of the debate spread, theologians and theological faculties again took sides (as they had after the controversy over the Ninety-Five Theses), university students shifted loyalties and even institutions, and legal proceedings against Luther resumed in Rome. In the wake of Leipzig, Luther began to write highly controversial treatises, denounced the pope as Antichrist, famously burned the bull proscribing his teachings, and was finally excommunicated in January 1521."(Leppin and Maddox, Luther at Leipzig: Martin Luther, the Leipzig Debate, and the Sixteenth-Century Reformations pp. 1 and 11)

The Account:

The debate was a public affair that went on for seventeen full days (from June 27th to July 15th, 1519), focused upon thirteen academic theses agreed to by Eck and Karlstadt beforehand, with Luther's knowledge and cooperation. Prior to the debate, against the preference of Eck, Luther and Karlstadt insisted that what was said by all three disputants be dictated directly to appointed notaries present during the debate. This had the effect of slowing the debate down considerably and allowed other attendees time to make their own transcripts.

It is quite possible that the account printed in this volume was written and edited for the press by Luther's friend Johann Lang of Erfurt (1487-1548), who was present at the Debate. In the brief preface, the editor suggests that he and the eye-witness are one and the same: "Reader... you have here the famous debate held at Leipzig... which we saw and heard ("Habes hic, lector quisquis es, disputationem illam celebrem quam Lipsiae vidimus et audivimus inter insignes viros.") Otto Seitz ("Der authentische Text der Leipziger Disputation"(1903), p. 8 f.), while not disputing the editor's claim that his text is an eye-witness account, demonstrates that the editor was not publishing a copy of the official, notarial report. This is borne out by the editor himself, who writes in his preface that although printing the notarial transcript was officially banned, he is not in violation of the ban on printing because it only applies to the notarial copies, not to private transcripts, of which -he tells us- there were "more than 30" -proof that the authorities did not wish to conceal what was said. Seitz does point out that there are two passages in the printed text that indicate that the editor had access to the official transcript.

The Aftermath of the Leipzig Debate:

"After Leipzig, the constellation of issues involved in the Luther affair had shifted from questions surrounding grace and repentance to the longstanding problem of authority in the church, especially that of the pope. Luther and Eck had debated how papal authority should be understood. Does the pope rule over all the churches as the vicar of Christ on earth? Does papal spiritual and jurisdictional authority over the whole church reflect the design and intent of Christ the Savior? More to the point, does the pope rule as a monarch in the church 'de iure divino', that is, as a matter of divine law? If so, where does that leave the authority of Holy Scripture?

"Questions such as these suggested a vexing series of further queries. What is the relationship between the Bible and church tradition, especially church councils and the writings of the church fathers? Whether the pope is an ecclesial monarch or not, is he subject to Scripture as the Word of God, limited, that is, in what he can say by what the Bible says? In the heated clash at Leipzig in 1519, Eck defended the position that the pope rules over all the particular churches within the one church, and that he does so 'de iure divino'. Luther, on the other hand, publicly argued for the first time that both popes and councils could err, as he thought even a brief perusal of church history would demonstrate. For support of this point he turned at Leipzig not only to Scripture, but to the history of the church and its canon law as well...

"Leipzig thus marked a decisive moment in the evolution of what would become known as Protestantism, in contradistinction to 'Roman' Catholicism. Leipzig increased the velocity at which the two sides moved toward these 'termini ad quos' and thus toward ecclesiastical division... The public contest between Karlstadt, Luther, and Eck, each a highly skilled and devout theologian, led to the division of the western Catholic church."(Leppin and Maddox, p. 11).