Everything about Johann Eck totally explained
Johann Eck (
November 13,
1486 –
February 13,
1543) was a 16th century
theologian and defender of
Catholicism during the
Protestant Reformation. It was Eck who argued that the beliefs of
Martin Luther and
Jan Hus were similar.
Education, Post at Ingolstadt and Death
Johann Eck was born
Johann Maier at Eck (later Egg, near
Memmingen, 43 miles south of
Augsburg) in
Swabia, and derived his additional surname from his birthplace, which he himself, after 1505, always modified into Eckius or Eccius, for example "of Eck." His father, Michael Maier, was a peasant and
bailiff, or
Amtmann, of the village. The boy's education was undertaken by his uncle, Martin Maier, parish priest at
Rottenburg on the river
Neckar.
At the age of twelve he entered the
University of Heidelberg, which he left in the
following year for
Tübingen. After taking his master's degree in
1501, he began the study of theology under
Johann Jakob Lempp, and studied the elements of Hebrew and political economy with
Konrad Summenhart. He left
Tübingen in 1501 on account of the plague and after a year at
Cologne finally settled at
Freiburg-im-Breisgau, at first as a student of theology and law and later as a successful teacher where he was mentor to the prominent
Anabaptist leader of
Waldshut and
Nikolsburg,
Balthasar Hubmaier, and later retaining this relationship during their move to the
University of Ingolstadt. In
1508 he entered the priesthood in
Strasbourg and two years later obtained his doctorate in theology.
At Freiburg in
1506 he published his first work,
Ludicra logices exercitamenta and also proved himself a brilliant and subtle orator, although obsessed by an untamable controversial spirit and unrestrained powers of invective. At odds with his colleagues, he was glad to accept a call to a theological chair at
Ingolstadt in November
1510, receiving at the same time the honors and income of a canon at Eichstadt. In
1512 he became prochancellor at the university and from that time until his death he was in complete control of the destinies of Ingolstadt, on which he impressed the character of ultracatholicism, which made it a bulwark of
Roman Catholicism in Germany at that time.
His wide knowledge found expression in numerous writings. In the theological field he produced his
Chrysopassus (Augsburg, 1514), in which he developed a
Semi-Pelagian theory of
predestination, while he obtained some fame as commentator on the
Summulae of
Peter of Spain and on
Aristotle's
De caelo and
De anima. As a
political economist he defended interest, despite the opposition of the bishop of Eichstadt.
A ducal commission, appointed to find a way of ending the interminable strife between rival academic parties, asked Eck to prepare fresh commentaries on
Aristotle and
Petrus Hispanus. Between 1516 and 1520, in addition to all his other duties, he published commentaries on the
Summulae of Petrus Hispanus, and on the
Dialectics,
Physics and lesser scientific works of Aristotle, which became the textbooks of the university. During these early years, Eck was considered a "modernist", and his commentaries are inspired with much of the scientific spirit of the New Learning. His aim, however, had been to find a
via media between old and new; his essential conservatism resulted in a lack of sympathy for the revolutionary attitude of the Reformers. Personal ambition and a desire to be conspicuous may have pushed him into public opposition to Luther. He had won a public disputation at
Augsburg in 1514, defending the lawfulness of putting out capital at interest; again at
Bologna in 1515, on the same subject and on the question of
predestination; and these triumphs had been repeated at
Vienna in 1516. By these successes he gained the patronage of the
Fuggers, and found himself fairly launched as the recognized apologist of the established order in church and state. Distinguished humanists might sneer at him as "a garrulous
sophist"; but from this time his ambition wasn't only to be the greatest scientific authority in Germany but also the champion of the papacy and of the traditional church order. The result of this new resolve was a gratuitous attack on his old friend, the distinguished humanist and jurist
Ulrich Zasius, for a doctrine proclaimed ten years before, and a simultaneous assault on
Erasmus's
Annotationes in Novum Testamentum.
Eck died at
Ingolstadt, fighting to the last and worn out before his time. He was the most conspicuous champion of
Roman Catholicism in the age of the Reformation, but his gifts were marred by many faults. His vast learning was the result of a powerful memory and unwearied industry, but he lacked creative imagination. He was a powerful debater, but his victories were those of a dialectician. His chief work was
De primatu Petri (1519); his
Enchiridion locorum communium adversus Lutherum ran through 46 editions between 1525 and 1576. In 1530-1535 he published a collection of his writings against Luther,
Opera contra Ludderum, in 4 vols.
Disputations with Luther and Karlstadt
As early as the spring of 1517 Eck had entered into friendly relations with
Martin Luther, who had regarded him as in harmony with his own views, but this illusion was short-lived. In his
Obelisci Eck attacked Luther's theses, which had been sent to him by
Scheurl, and accused him of promoting the "heresy of the
Bohemian Brethren," fostering anarchy within the Church and branded him a
Hussite. Luther replied in his
Asterisci adversxes obeliseos Eccii, while
Andreas Karlstadt defended Luther's views of indulgences and engaged in a violent controversy with Eck.
A mutual desire for a public disputation led to a compact between Eck and Luther by which the former pledged himself to meet Karlstadt in debate at
Erfurt or
Leipzig, on condition that Luther abstain from all participation in the discussion. In December 1518, Eck published the twelve theses which he was prepared to uphold against Karlstadt, but since they were aimed at Luther rather than at the ostensible opponent, Luther addressed an open letter to Karlstadt, in which he declared himself ready to meet Eck in debate.
The
disputation between Eck and Karlstadt began at
Leipzig on
27 June 1519. In the first four sessions Eck maintained the thesis that
free will is the active agent in the creation of good works, but he was compelled by his opponent to modify his position so as to concede that the grace of God and free will work in harmony toward the common end. Karlstadt then proceeded to prove that good works are to be ascribed to the agency of God alone, whereupon Eck yielded so far as to admit that free will is passive in the beginning of conversion, although he maintained that in course of time it enters into its rights; so that while the entirety of good works originates in God, their accomplishment isn't entirely the work of God.
Despite the fact that Eck was thus virtually forced to abandon his position, he succeeded, through his good memory and his dialectic skill, in confusing the heavy-witted Karlstadt and carried off the nominal victory. He was far less successful against Luther, who, as Eck himself confessed, was his superior in memory, acumen, and learning. After a disputation on the absolute supremacy of the
papacy,
purgatory, penance, etc., lasting twenty-three days (
4 July–
27 July), the arbitrators declined to give a verdict, but the general impression was that victory rested with Eck. He did succeed in making Luther admit that there was some truth in the Hussite opinions and declare himself against the pope, but this success only embittered his animosity against his opponents, and from that time his whole efforts were devoted to Luther's overthrow. Eck was greeted as victor by the theologians of the University of Leipzig, who overwhelmed him with honors and sent him away with gifts.
The impression produced by Eck upon his auditors during that momentous time may be best learned from the account of the humanist
Peter of Moselle, who described him as tall, stout, and squarely built. His voice was full and rolling, and of an admirable quality for an actor, or even for a public crier. As far as his intellectual gifts were concerned, he'd a wonderful memory, which, if supplemented by other talents in like proportion, would have made him a marvel, but he lacked swiftness of apprehension and deep insight, so that his masses of arguments and citations were indiscriminate, and he was filled with an inconceivable impudence though he'd the cleverness to conceal it.
Attacks on Luther and Melanchthon
Soon after his return to Ingolstadt, Eck attempted to persuade Elector
Frederick of Saxony to have Luther's works burned in public, and during the year
1519 he published no less than eight writings against the new movement. He failed, however, to obtain a condemnatory decision from the universities appointed to pronounce on the outcome of the
Leipzig disputation. Erfurt returned the proceedings of the meeting to the Saxon duke without signifying its approval, while Paris, after repeated urging, gave an ambiguous decision limited to "the doctrine of Luther so far as investigated". Eck's only followers were the aged heretic-hunter Hoogstraten and
Emser of Leipzig, together with the allied authorities of the universities of
Cologne and
Leuven. Luther returned Eck's assaults with more than equal vehemence and about this time
Philipp Melanchthon wrote
Œcolampadius that at Leipzig he'd first become distinctly aware of the difference between what he considered to be true Christian theology and the scholasticism of the Aristotelian doctors. In his
Excusatio (Wittenberg? 1519?) Eck, irritated all the more because early in the year he'd induced Erasmus to caution, the young theological student against precipitating himself into the religious conflict, retorted that Melanchthon knew nothing of theology. In his reply to the
Excusatio, Melanchthon proved that he was thoroughly versed in theology, and Eck fared still worse in October of the same year when he sought to aid Emser by a strongly-worded tirade against Luther. Two biting satires, one by Œcolampadius and the other by
Willibald Pirckheimer, stung him to a fury which would be satisfied with nothing less than the public burning of the entire literature in the market-place at Ingolstadt, an act from which he was restrained by his colleague Reuchlin.
Papal Emissary and Inquisitor
Eck was far more highly esteemed as "the dauntless champion of the true faith" at Rome than in Germany, where he induced the universities of Cologne and Louvain to condemn the reformer's writings, but failed to enlist the German princes. In January
1520, he visited Italy at the invitation of
Pope Leo X, to whom he presented his latest work
De primate Petri adversus Ludderum (Ingolstadt, 1520) for which he was rewarded with the nomination to the office of
papal protonotary, although his efforts to urge the Curia to decisive action against Luther were unsuccessful for some
time.
In July he returned to Germany with the celebrated bull
Exsurge Domine directed against Luther's writings, in which forty-one propositions of Luther were condemned as heretical or erroneous. He now believed himself in a position to crush not only the "Lutheran
heretics," but also his humanist critics. The effect of the publication of the bull, however, soon undeceived him. Bishops, universities and humanists were at one in denunciation of the outrage; and, as for the attitude of the people, Eck was glad to have escaped from
Saxony alive. At
Meissen,
Brandenburg, and
Merseburg he succeeded in giving the papal measure due official publicity, but at Leipzig he was the object of the ridicule of the student body and was compelled to flee by night to Freiberg, where he was again prevented
from proclaiming the bull. At Erfurt the students tore the instrument down and threw it into the water, while in other places the papal decree was subjected to still greater insults.
At Vienna its publication encountered grave difficulties, and Eck had good cause to set up a votive tablet to his patron saint upon his safe return to Ingolstadt, although even there only the authority of the papal mandate made the publication of the bull possible. This last humiliation was due, in great measure, to the fact that he'd availed himself of the permission to pronounce the papal censure on prominent followers of the new movement besides Luther, and had thus made his office a means of personal revenge.
In his anger he appealed to force, and his
Epistola ad Carolum V (
February 18,
1521) called on the emperor to take measures against Luther, an appeal soon answered by the Edict of Worms (May, 1521). In 1521 and 1522 Eck was again in Rome, reporting on the results of his nunciature. On his return from his second visit he was the prime mover in the promulgation of the Bavarian religious edict of 1522, which practically established the senate of the
University of Ingolstadt as a tribunal of the
Inquisition, and led to years of persecution. In return for this action of the duke, who had at first been opposed to the policy of repression, Eck obtained for him, during a third visit to Rome in 1523, valuable ecclesiastical concessions. He continued unabated in his zeal against the reformers, publishing eight major works between 1522 and 1526.
Wealth and power were included in the aspirations of Eck. He appropriated the revenues of his parish of
Günzburg, while he relegated its duties to a vicar. Twice he visited Rome as a diplomatic representative of the
Bavarian court to obtain sanction for the establishment of a court of inquisition against the Lutheran teachings at Ingolstadt. The first of these journeys, late in the autumn of 1521, was fruitless on account of the death of Leo X, but his second journey in 1523 was successful. With great insight and courage he showed the Curia the true condition of affairs in Germany and pictured the general incapacity of the representatives of the Church in that country.
Of the many heresy trials in which Eck was the prime mover during this period it's sufficient to mention here that of
Leonhard Kaser, whose history was published by Luther.
Zwingli and his Followers
In addition to his inquisitorial duties, every year witnessed the publication of one or more writings against iconoclasm and in defense of the doctrines of the Mass,
purgatory, and
auricular confession. His
Enchiridion locorum communium adversus Lutherum et alios hostes ecclesiae (Landshut, 1525) went through forty-six editions before 1576. As its title indicates, it was directed primarily against Melanchthon's
Loci Communes, although it also concerned itself to some extent with the teachings of
Huldrych Zwingli.
At Baden-in-Aargau from
May 21 until
June 18 1526 a public disputation on the doctrine of
transubstantiation was held, in which Eck and
Thomas Murner were pitted against
Johann Oecolampadius. The affair ended decidedly in favor of Eck, who induced the authorities to enter on a course of active persecution of Zwingli and his followers (
Conference of Baden).
The effect of his victory at Baden was dissipated, however, at the
Disputation of Bern (January 1528), where the propositions advanced by the Reformers were debated in the absence of Eck, and
Bern,
Basel, and other places were definitely won for the Reformation. At the
Diet of Augsburg (1530) Eck played the leading part among the Roman Catholic theologians.
Peace Overtures
For the upcoming Diet of Augsburg, while still at Ingolstadt, Eck compiled what he considered to be 404 heretical propositions from the writings of the reformers as an aid to
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. At Augsburg he was charged by
the emperor to draw up, in concert with twenty other theologians, a refutation of the Lutheran
Augsburg Confession, which had been delivered to the emperor on June 25, 1530, but he'd to rewrite it five times before it suited the emperor. It was known as the
Confutatio pontificia, embodying the Catholic reaction to the reformers. He also was involved in the fruitless negotiations with the Protestant theologians, including
Philipp Melanchthon, that took place at Augsburg.
He was at the Colloquy of Worms in
1540 where he showed some signs of a willingness to compromise. In January
1541 he renewed these efforts and succeeded in impressing
Melanchthon as being prepared to give his assent to the main principles of the reformers, for example Justification by faith; but at the diet of
Regensburg (Ratisbon) in the spring and summer of
1541 his old violence reasserted itself in opposing all efforts at reconciliation and persuading the Catholic princes to reject the "
Regensburg Interim" proposed.
The last important phase of Eck's activity was his conflict with
Martin Bucer over the anti-Catholic bias displayed in Bucer's published report of the
1541 diet of Regensburg.
All in all, his efforts at peace, in which he was ready to meet the Reformers half-way, show him to have been sincere, but they failed, in part, because of the hatred and contempt on the part of the Reformers for one who had proved to be their inveterate opponent for many years.
Eck's German New Testament
Special mention should be made, among Eck's many writings, of his German translation of the Bible (the New Testament a revision of H. Emser's rendering) which was first published at Ingolstadt in 1537.
Eck and Antisemitism
In
1541 Eck published his
Against the Defense of the Jews [German:
Ains Juden-büechlins Verlegung]. In it he opposes the position of the Nuremberg reformer
Andreas Osiander, who wanted to quash medieval superstition that Jews were responsible for killing Christian children, desecrating the
eucharistic Host, and poisoning wells. Osiander's pamphlet is
Whether It Be True and Credible That the Jews Seccretly Stangulate Christian Children and Make Use of Their Blood. Eck accused Osiander of being a "Jew-protector" and "Jew-father," and no fewer than nineteen times reviled the Jews, culminating with the epithet for them: "a blasphemous race" (
Ains Juden-büechlins Verlegung, fol. J 3r, quoted in
Heiko A. Oberman,
The Roots of Antisemitism in the Age of Renaissance and Reformation, translated by James I. Porter, (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1984), 37; cf. also pp. 4-5, 17, 36-37, 42, 46-47, 58, 72-73, 87, 91, 101, 121, 135).
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