The 151 theses of Carlstadt, dated the 16th of September 1516,
discovered by Theodor Kolde ("_Wittenberger Disputationsthesen"_ in
_Zeitschrift fur Kirchengeschichte_, xi. p. 448, &c.), prove that, so
far from owing his change of view to Luther's influence, he was at this
time actually in advance of Luther. The two reformers were, in fact,
never friends; though from the end of 1516 onwards the development of
each was considerably influenced by the other.

In the spring of 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 (which he regarded as verbally
inspired) over ecclesiastical tradition and the authority of the
fathers, and asserting the liability of general councils to error. Eck
challenged him to a public disputation, in which Luther also took part,
and which lasted from the 27th of June to the 15th of July 1519. In this
dialectical warfare Carlstadt was no match for Eck; but the dispute only
served to confirm him in his revolt from the dominant theology, and in
three violent polemical treatises against Eck he proclaimed the doctrine
of the exclusive operation of grace in the justification of believers.

This attitude led him in 1520, by a logical development, to an open
attack on all those ecclesiastical practices in which the doctrine of
justification by works had become crystallized; e.g. indulgences and the
abuse of holy water and consecrated salt. At the same time he appeared
as the first of modern biblical critics, denying the Mosaic authorship
of the Pentateuch and classing the Scriptures into three categories of
different value in accordance with the degrees of certainty as to their
traditional origin. He still, however, maintained the doctrine of verbal
inspiration, and attacked Luther for rejecting the epistle of James. In
1520 Carlstadt's name was included in the papal bull excommunicating
Luther; after a momentary hesitation he decided to remain firm in his
protestant attitude, published an appeal from the pope to a general
council, and attacked the corruptions of the papacy itself in a treatise
on "the holiness of the pope" (_Von papstlicher Heiligkeit_, October
17th, 1520).

In May 1521 Carlstadt went to Denmark, on the invitation of King
Christian II., to assist in the reform of the church; but his
disposition was anything but conciliatory, and, though his influence is
traceable in the royal