Heidelberg Disputation

The Heidelberg Disputation ( " deal " Latin disputare " discuss " ) was a in April 1518 led by Martin Luther scientific debate in the University of Heidelberg. For the spread of Luther's doctrine in the southwest of Germany it was of great importance.

Character, history and significance

The General Chapter of the German Augustinian Hermits strict observance took place in 1518 in Heidelberg. After the religious affairs were regulated, the Augustinians held on April 26, 1518 a scientific disputation, was entrusted with the management of Martin Luther. The event is not found in the Augustinian monastery instead, but ( Faculty of Liberal Arts ) at the University, in the auditorium of the Faculty of Arts.

The defense was already part of the Roman action against Martin Luther in the discharge dispute. Rome had commissioned the Augustinian order to conduct a defense in which Luther nailed his theses should explain to the drain. In the disputation Luther did not go but to the issue of indulgences, but instead dealt with the issue of justification by works, and the theology of the cross in contrast to the theology of glory. In audited him theses for disputation Luther taught the basic ideas of his new theology, the utter dependence of man on God's grace. Not through his works of the man of God Get grace, but through his faith.

The professors involved in the defense of the theological faculty Luther was not approved, but he gained many followers among the students and magisters the Faculty of Arts. Later Reformers such as Martin Bucer, Erhard Schnepf, Franciscus Irenicus, Martin Frecht and Johannes Brenz were in the audience.

Erhard Schnepf

Johannes Brenz

The Heidelberg Disputation gained great importance in the spread of Luther's Reformation doctrine. Many of his listeners were the bearers of the Reformation in the southwest of Germany. At the Reformation in the Kraichgau had especially Johannes Brenz great influence, and Erhard Schnepf preached since 1520 in the sense of Lutheran doctrine. Most of the later active in Kraichgau pastors and preachers in the Prädikaturen had studied in Heidelberg in 1518 and were won by the defense for the Reformation.