Carlstadt's Ordinaciones and Luther's Liberty: A Study of the Wittenberg Movement, 1521-22 (Harvard Theological Studies, XXVI)

88 pp. Andreas Rudolph Bodenstein (Karlstadt am Main, Franconia, 1486-Basel, December 24, 1541), better known as Karlstadt, was a German theologian during the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther (Eisleben, 10 November 1483 – Eisleben, 18 February 1546), born Martin Luther, was a theologian, philosopher and Augustinian Catholic friar who began and promoted the Protestant Reformation in Germany and whose teachings inspired the theological and cultural doctrine called Lutheranism. Luther urged the Church to return to the original teachings of the Bible, which led to a restructuring of the Catholic Christian churches in Europe. The Catholic Church 's reaction to the Protestant Reformation was the Counter-Reformation. His contributions to Western civilization extend beyond the religious realm, as his translations of the Bible helped develop a standard version of the German language and became a model in the art of translation. His marriage to Catherine von Bora on 13 June 1525 began a movement in support of priestly marriage within many Christian currents. Three years before his death, he wrote a treatise on Christian anti-Judaism called On the Jews and Their Lies, in which he called for the murder of Jews and the burning of their property and synagogues. His rhetoric was not only directed at Jews, but also at Catholics, Anabaptists and non-trinitarian Christians. For this reason he is considered one of the fathers of Hispanophobia and anti-Semitism. Luther died in 1546, excommunicated by Pope Leo X. Luther returned from Wartburg and between 9 and 16 March 1522 gave eight sermons in which, while stressing his similarities with Karlstadt, he urged caution. This was a crucial moment in the relations between the two reformers. Karlstadt reaffirmed some of his moderately mystical leanings, continued to wear peasant clothes, asked to be called "Brother Andreas", became disillusioned with academic life and renounced his three doctorates, although he "gave excellent but infrequent lectures".