CARLSTADT, KARLSTADT or KAROLOSTADT. Andreas Rudolf Bodenstein (148o-1541), German reformer, was born at Carlstadt, Bavaria. He studied at the universities of Erfurt ) Cologne and Wittenberg, where he acquired fame as a champion of the scholasticism of Thomas Aquinas. In 1513 he became professor of theology. In 1515 he went to Rome to take a degree in law. He returned to Germany as an ardent opponent of Thomism and as a champion of the Augustinian doctrine of the impotence of the human will and salvation through Divine grace alone. The 151 theses of Carlstadt, dated Sept. 16, 1516, dis covered by T. Kolde ("Wittenberger Disputationsthesen" in Zeitschrift fur Kirchengeschichte, xi.) , prove that Carlstadt was at this time actually in advance of Luther.
In 1518, in reply to Eck's Obelisci, an attack on Luther's 95 theses, Carlstadt published a series of theses, maintaining the supremacy of the Holy Scriptures over the authority of the fathers, and asserting the liability of general councils to error. A public disputation with Eck, in which Luther also took part, led to three polemical treatises against Eck in which he proclaimed the doctrine of the exclusive operation of grace in the justification of believers.
In 1520 he appeared as the first of modern biblical critics, denying the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch and classifying the Scriptures into three categories of different value in accord ance with the degrees of certainty as to their traditional origin. He still, however, held their verbal inspiration, and attacked Luther for rejecting the epistle of James. The inclusion of Carl stadt's name in the papal bull excommunicating Luther resulted in his attack upon the papacy in Von papstlicher Heiligkeit, (Oct. 152o).
In 1521 Carlstadt went to Denmark, on the invitation of Christian II., to assist in the reform of the church ; but he was forced, by the hostility of nobles and clerics alike, to leave after a few weeks. In June he was back in Wittenberg, busy with tracts on the Holy Sacrament (he still believed in the corporeal presence) and against monasticism and the celibacy of the clergy. He was accepted as the leader of Protestantism in Wittenberg; and, at his instance, auricular confession, the elevation of the Host com munion under one species, and the rules for fasting were abolished. In January he was married.
The return of Luther early in March, however, ended Carlstadt's supremacy, and communion in one kind and the elevation of the Host was restored. Carlstadt himself, though still professor, was deprived of all influence in practical affairs, and devoted himself to theological speculation. He now denied the necessity for a clerical order and retiring to Orlamiinde abolished the Mass and even preached against the necessity for any sacraments. He occasionally lectured at Wittenberg and fulminated against Luther's policy of compromise.
All this brought him into conflict with the elector, Frederick the Wise, the university and Luther himself. His professorship and living were confiscated and in 1524 he went into exile. He was exposed to great privations, but found opportunity for polemical writing, proclaiming for the first time his disbelief in the "Real Presence." He visited Strasbourg, Heidelberg, Zurich, Basel, Schweinfurth, Kitzingen, Nordlingen and Rothenburg on the Tau ber, from whence he had to fly for his life after the Peasants' War. His spirit was now broken, and from Frankfort he wrote to Luther humbly praying him to intercede for him with the elector. Luther agreed to do so, on receiving from Carlstadt a recantation of his heterodox views on the Lord's Supper, and as a result, the latter was permitted to return to Wittenberg (1525), but not to lecture. His refusal to take up the cudgels against Zwingli and Oecolam padius ended in his flight to avoid imprisonment. Taking refuge in Holstein and later in East Friesland, he ultimately reached Zurich, where Bucer and Oecolampadius secured him a friendly reception by Zwingli, who procured him employment. After Zwingli's death he remained in close intercourse with the Zurich preachers, who defended him against Luther's attacks; and finally, in 1534, on Bullinger's recommendation, he was called to Basel as preacher at the church of St. Peter and professor at the university. He died there on Dec. 24, 1541.
During these latter years Carlstadt's attitude became more moderate. Despatched to Strasbourg in 1536, to discuss a pro posed compromise in the matter of the Lord's Supper between the theologians of Strasbourg and Wittenberg, he displayed a con ciliatory attitude which earned him the praise of Bucer. Carl stadt's historical significance lies in the fact that he was one of the pioneers of the Reformation ; but he was a thinker and dreamer rather than a man of affairs. He lacked the balance of mind and sturdy common sense that inspired Luther's policy of considera tion for "the weaker brethren." In reply to Luther's attack in Wider die himmlischen Propheten, he issued his Anzeig etlicher Hauptartikel christlicher Lehre, a compendious exposition of his views.
Besides the above mentioned works, Carlstadt's chief writings are De Canonicis Scripturis Von Gelubden Unterrich tung (1520, De legis liters sive carne et spiritu (1520, Priester tun u. Opf er Christi Ob man gemach faren soil (1524). His disputations with Eck were reprinted in 1903.