Johann Eck

Johann Eck
Born	Johann Maier; 13 November 1486; Eck
Died	10 February 1543 (aged 56); Ingolstadt
Occupations	German Scholastic theologian, Catholic prelate, and early counterreformer
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Johann Eck (13 November 1486 – 10 February 1543), also known as Johann Maier von Eck and often anglicized as John Eck, was a German Roman Catholic theologian, scholastic, prelate, and opponent of Martin Luther.

Life

Johann Eck was born Johann Maier at Eck (later Egg, near Memmingen, Swabia) and derived his additional surname from his birthplace, which he himself, after 1523, always modified into Eckius or Eccius, i.e. "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 12 he entered the University of Heidelberg, which he left in the following year for Tübingen.^[1] 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.

Johann Eck left Tübingen in 1501 on account of the plague and after a year at Cologne finally settled at Freiburg University, 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. At odds with his colleagues, he accepted a call to a theological chair at Ingolstadt in November 1510, also receiving a canonry at Eichstadt. In 1512, he became prochancellor at the university and made the institution a bulwark of Catholicism. In the theological field he produced his Chrysopassus (Augsburg, 1514), in which he developed a theory of predestination, and also commented on the Summulae of Peter of Spain and on Aristotle's De caelo and De anima.

As a political economist he defended the lawfulness of putting out capital at interest,^[2] arguing his view at disputations at Augsburg (1514), Bologna (1515), and Vienna in 1516 where he also disputed about predestination. Through these successes he gained the patronage of the Fuggers.^[3]

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. During these early years, Eck was considered a modern theologian, and his commentaries were informed by the New Learning. His aim, however, had been to find a via media between old and new.

He championed the cause of the papacy, writing De primatu Petri in 1519, and his Enchiridion locorum communium adversus Lutherum ran through 46 editions between 1525 and 1576. From 1530 to 1535 he published a collection of his writings against Luther, Opera contra Ludderum, in 4 vols. He verbally assailed his friend, humanist and jurist Ulrich Zasius, for a doctrine proclaimed ten years before, and Erasmus's Annotationes in Novum Testamentum. Eck died at Ingolstadt on 10 February 1543.

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 relationship was short-lived. In his Obelisci, Eck attacked Luther's theses, which had been sent to him by Christoph von 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 adversus obeliscos 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 argue 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 the course of time it enters into its rights; so that while the entirety of good works originates in God, their accomplishment is not entirely the work of God.

Despite the fact that Eck was thus virtually forced to abandon his position, he succeeded in confusing Karlstadt and carried off the victory. He was less successful against Luther, who, according to Eck, was his superior in memory, acumen, and learning. After a disputation on the supremacy of the papacy, purgatory, penance, etc., lasting twenty-three days (4 July–27 July), the arbitrators declined to give a verdict. Eck 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. Eck also forced Luther to declare that Ecumenical Councils were sometimes errant, as in the case when Constance (1414–1418) condemned Jan Hus in 1415. Luther effectively denied the authority of both pope and council. Eck was greeted as victor by the theologians of the University of Leipzig.

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, in 1519, he published 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 to Œcolampadius that at Leipzig he had 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, Eck retorted that Melanchthon knew nothing of theology, a claim Melanchthon responded to in his reply.

Eck fared even worse in October 1519 when he sought to aid Emser with a strongly worded tirade against Luther. Two satires, one by Œcolampadius and the other by Willibald Pirckheimer, angered Eck who pushed for 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

Johann Eck was more highly esteemed in Rome than in Germany, where he induced the universities of Cologne and Louvain to condemn Luther'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 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, made this difficult. Universities and humanists were at one in denunciation of the outrage; and, due the attitude of the people, Eck was barely able to escape 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 bull down and threw it into the water, while in other places the papal decree was subjected to still greater insults.

In his anger he appealed to force, and his Epistola ad Carolum V (18 February 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. 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 from 1522 to 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 two years later, in 1523, was successful. Eck was the prime mover in many heresy trials, including that of Leonhard Kaiser, 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 21 May until 18 June 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 Bern Disputation (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 Diet of Augsburg, while still at Ingolstadt, Eck compiled what he considered to be 404 heretical propositions^[4] 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 25 June 1530, but he had 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; Eck with Wimpina and Cochlæus met the Lutherans in August.^[5]

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, e.g. justification by faith; but at the diet of Regensburg in the spring and summer of 1541, he reasserted his opposition. Afterwards Eck clashed with Martin Bucer over the latter's published report of the diet.

Eck's German New Testament

Eck produced a 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 the genealogy of Christ

Eck made a sermon on the genealogy of Christ, naming Mary's mother's parents as Emerentia and Stollanus: "The renowned Father John of Eck of Ingolstadt, in a sermon on St. Anne (published at Paris in 1579), pretends to know even the names of the parents St. Anne. He calls them Stollanus and Emerentia. He says that St. Anne was born after Stollanus and Emerentia had been childless for twenty years".^[6]

Eck and the Jews

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 in the pamphlet Whether It Be True and Credible That the Jews Secretly Strangulate Christian Children and Make Use of Their Blood wanted to quash medieval suspicion that Jews were responsible for killing Christian children, desecrating the eucharistic Host, and poisoning wells. Eck accused Osiander of being a "Jew-protector" and "Jew-father", and no fewer than nineteen times reviled the Jews, and called them "a blasphemous race".^[7]

Works

Eckius, Joannes (1536), Enchiridion locorum communium adversus Lutherum et alios hostes ecclesiae (in Latin).
Eck, Johannes; Smeling, Tilmann, Fraenkel, Pierre (ed.), Enchiridion locorum communium adversus Lutherum et alios hostes ecclesiae [Enchiridion (i.e., handbook or manual) of Commonplaces against Luther and other Enemies of the Church: with the additions by Tilmann Smeling], Corpus Catholicorum: Werke katholischer Schriftsteller im Zeitalter der Glaubensspaltung. Works of Catholic authors in the Time of the Splitting of the Faith (in Latin), vol. 34, pp. 1525–2543.
Battles, Ford Lewis (transl.) (1979), Enchiridion of Commonplaces against Luther and other Enemies of the Church, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House (Twin Brooks Series), ISBN 978-0-8010-3352-0.
Eck, Johann (1538), Explanatio Psalmi vigesimi, ed., Bernhard Walde, 1928, Münster in Westfalen: Aschendorff.

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Johann Eck (Eckius), Johann, theologian and principal adversary of Luther, b. November 15, 1486, at Eck in Swabia; d. February 10, 1543, at Ingolstadt. His family name was Maier, and his father, Michael Maier, was for many years magistrate in the town, the latinized name of which, Eckius or Eccius, was adopted after 1505 by Johann. His uncle, Martin Maier, pastor at Rothenberg on the Neckar, received Johann in his house (1495) and educated him. In 1498, when twelve years old, he was admitted to the Heidelberg University; thence he went in 1499 to Tubingen where he received the degree of Master of Arts in 1501; then to Cologne and in 1502 to Freiburg in the Breisgau. After his graduation in the faculty of arts he began the study of philosophy and theology, took courses at the same time in jurisprudence, physics, mathematics, and geography, joined the Humanistic movement, and in addition to Latin, learned Hebrew and Greek. Among his instructors at the university were many distinguished scholars. His uncle now withdrew his allowance and Eck was obliged to earn his livelihood as a tutor while continuing his studies. In 1505 he was appointed rector of the Artistenburse zum Pfau, i.e. principal of the hall for students in arts at Freiburg, and received the degree of Bachelor of Theology; he lectured on the "Sentences" in 1506; was promoted to the licentiate in 1509; and in 1510, when twenty-four years old, he received the degree of Doctor of Theology. He had been ordained to the priesthood in 1508 with a papal dispensation from the age-requirement. Shortly after graduating as doctor, he was invited (1510) by the Dukes of Bavaria to the professorship of theology in Ingolstadt. He was appointed pro-chancellor of the university in 1512, and during his professorate of thirty-two years filled repeatedly the offices of dean, pro-rector, and rector; he also served as pastor and was appointed canon in Eichstätt. At Freiburg and during his earlier years at Ingolstadt, his literary activity was remarkable, not only in theology but also in other departments of science, as is evidenced by his writings which have been preserved partly in print and partly in MS. He engaged in geographical research and published a series of philosophical works, some of which were to serve as textbooks in the faculty of arts at Ingolstadt. In these writings he attempts to combine in a rational synthesis the advantages of the older philosophy with those of the new. His principal theological work during this period, entitled "Chrysopassus", treats of predestination with special reference to the dogmas of grace and free will which were so soon to become, in consequence of Luther's outbreak, the center of sharp discussion. The tenor of this treatise, written when its author was only twenty-eight years old, evinces both confidence and modesty.

Luther's appearance, and especially the Disputation at Leipzig (1519), formed the turning-point in Eck's intellectual development and in his activity as a theologian. Thenceforth he is a prominent figure in the history of that period. With a clear insight into the meaning of Lutheranism, he was the first to champion the cause of Catholic teaching against Protestant error; and he became Luther's ablest opponent, skillful, untiring, and thoroughly equipped in theology. The rest of his life was spent in conflict with the Reformers in Germany and Switzerland. He defended the Catholic Church, its doctrines and its institutions, in his writings, in public debates, in his speeches at the diets, and in his diplomatic missions. For the betterment of ecclesiastical life and the spread of genuine reform he labored earnestly by preaching to the people and by insisting on the scientific education of the clergy. As a reply to Luther's "theses" he wrote his "Obelisci", originally intended solely for the Bishop of Eichstätt. Both Luther and Karlstadt answered bitterly and then it was agreed to submit the points at issue to the test of a public debate, which was held in Leipzig, June 27-July 15, 1519. Eck came off victorious, exposed Luther's heresy, and won over as a loyal adherent to the Catholic standard, George, Duke of Saxony. During the same year he published several essays attacking the tenets of Luther, and grew steadily in prominence as an authority on theological questions. In 1520 he visited Rome to report on the condition of affairs in Germany and to secure the condemnation of Luther's heresy. He submitted his essay on the Primacy of Peter to Leo X, was appointed prothonotary Apostolic, and was charged as papal legate, along with the two other legates, Aleander and Caracciolo, to carry out in Germany the provisions of the Bull "Exsurge Domine", hich excommunicated Luther and condemned his 41 theses. The execution of this mandate was beset with difficulties on every side. Eck, through his "Epistola ad Carolum V" (1521), admonished Emperor Charles to enforce the papal Bann. In the same year he went to Rome again, principally at the behest of the Bavarian dukes for whom he acted as counsellor in ecclesiastical affairs, and made a third visit to Rome in 1523. Meanwhile (1522) he had induced the Bavarian duke to publish an edict in defense of the Catholic Faith. While in Rome he procured for the dukes, among other privileges, the power of enacting, independently of the bishops, decrees for the moral reformation of the clergy; and furthermore the right to appropriate, for use against heretics and Turks, a fifth part of all church revenues.

Eck in the meantime combated Lutheranism by his letters and essays. Between the years 1522 and 1526 he published eight voluminous treatises against Luther. Through his influence the University of Ingolstadt retained its strictly Catholic attitude and strenuously opposed the rising Protestant institutions. Eck had also a considerable share in organizing the "Catholic Federation", founded June 5, 1524, by the leaders in Church and State for the purpose of safeguarding the ancient faith and enforcing the Edict of Worms. He also defended in numerous essays the traditional doctrines of the Church against Zwingli and his adherents, and participated in the religious discussion in Baden (1526). When the Protestants, at the Diet of Augsburg in 1530, promulgated the "Augsburg Confession", defining their religious views, Eck headed the Catholic champions upon whom the refutation of the articles in this confession devolved. Together with Wimpina and Cochlaeus he represented the Catholic party at the conference (August 16) between Catholic and Lutheran theologians relative to the "Confessio" and its "Confutatio"; and as theologian he served on the sub-committee which canvassed the results of the conference. Zwingli also had presented at Augsburg a Confession of Faith and this Eck alone refuted. Eck then drew up 404 heretical theses upon which he challenged the Protestant theologians to public debate. The challenge was not accepted; the only answer from the Protestant party was a torrent of abuse. In the negotiations relative to the Council of Trent, Eck was consulted by the emperor, Charles V, as well as by the pope, Paul III, and was charged by the latter with preliminary work for the council. At the religious disputation in Worms (1540), Eck again appeared as the chief Catholic representative and debated with Melanchthon on the issues involved in the "Augsburg Confession". This discussion was continued during the Diet of Ratisbon (1541) to which, besides Eck, the emperor delegated as spokesmen on the Catholic side, Julius Pflug and Gropper. Eck maintained clearly and decisively the Catholic position, and quite disapproved the "Ratisbon Interim". He also went on a mission to England and the Netherlands in the interest of the Catholic cause. In 1529 the bishops of Denmark invited Eck and Cochlaeus to the discussion at Copenhagen; but neither appeared. Eck fully deserved the prominence gained by him during the struggle against Protestantism. He was the most distinguished theologian of the time in Germany, the most scholarly and courageous champion of the Catholic Faith. Frank and even in disposition, he was also inspired by a sincere love of truth; but he showed none the less an intense self-consciousness and the jovial bluntness of speech which characterized the men of that day. His adversaries, lampooning him publicly, taxed him with drunkenness and immorality; but the general tone of the writings published against Eck and the readiness of the Protestants to calumniate their victorious opponent, arouse strong suspicion as to the truth of these accusations and make them, so far as the evidence goes, altogether improbable. In rebuttal it should be noted that Eck received the Last Sacraments with exemplary piety, and that his funeral in the Frauenkirche at Ingolstadt was marked by great solemnity.

As a writer Eck was prolific. His most important works are: "Loci communes adversus Lutherum et alios hostes ecclesiae" (Arguments against Luther and Other Enemies of the Church), printed first in 1525, 45th edition in 1576; essays on the Primacy of Peter, Penance, the Sacrifice of the Mass, Purgatory, etc. He also published numerous polemical writings against Luther, Zwingli, Bucer, and other leaders of the new religious movements. He compiled the results of the numerous disputations in which he participated and the sermons he preached on various subjects. In 1539 he published a German version of the Scriptures, translating the Old Testament from the original and adopting Emser's translation of the New Testament. Eck, however, was abler as a theologian than as a stylist. He also published a collection of most of his writings prior to 1535 entitled "Opera Johannis Eckii contra Ludderum in 5 partes" (Ingolstadt, 1530-4535). In this edition parts I-II contain his polemical writings on the Primacy, Penance, etc. against Luther; parts III-IV, his reports of the debates and his polemics against Zwingli, Karlstadt, and Bucer; also the "Loci Communes", part V (4 vols.), his Latin semons.

WIEDEMANN, "Dr. Johann Eck" (Ratisbon, 1865), with list of Eck's works; BRECHER in "Allgemeine deutsche Biographie" (Leipzig, 1877), V, 596-602; GUENTHER, "Johann Eck als Geograph" in "Forschungen zur Kultur- und Literaturgesch. Bayerns" (Munich, 1894), II, 140-162; SCHNEID, "Dr. Johann Eck u. das kirchliche Zinsverbot" in "Historisch-politisch Blätter" (1891), CVIII, 241 sq., 321 sq., 473 sq., 570 sq., 659 sq., 789 sq.; BAUCH, "Die Anfaenge des Humanismus in Ingolstadt" (Munich, 1901); GREVING, "Johann Eck als junger Gelehrter" in "Reformationsgesch. Studien u. Texte" (Muenster, 1906), I.

References

Back to citation "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Johann Eck". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 2021-01-15.
Back to citation Heiko Oberman, "Masters of the Reformation", [Cambridge University Press, 1991], p. 129
Back to citation Walter I. Brandt, "Luther's Works", v. 45 [Muhlenberg Press, 1962], p. 305.
Back to citation Text of Dr. John Eck's 404 Theses, or 404 Articles. Samuel Macauley Jackson, ed., Papers of the American Society of Church History, Second Series, Volume II, pp. 21–81, G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York and London, Knickerbocker Press, 1910. Books. Google.com
Back to citation Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Johann Eck". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
Back to citation "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. Anne". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 2020-09-11.
Back to citation 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.