Editing Disputation (section)

===Leipzig Disputation (1519)===
{{main article|Leipzig Debate}}
[[Johann Eck]] became involved in a literary contest with [[Andreas Karlstadt]] and challenged his adversary to a public debate. In [[Leipzig]], although the faculty of the university entered a protest, and the Bishops of Merseburg and Brandenburg launched prohibitions and an excommunication, the disputation took place under the ægis of [[Duke George of Saxony]]. Eck came to Leipzig with one attendant; Luther and Karlstadt entered the city accompanied by an army of adherents, mostly students. From 27 June to 4 July (1519) Eck and Karlstadt debated the subject of free will and our ability to cooperate with grace. Eck forced his antagonist to make admissions which stultified the new Lutheran doctrine, whereupon Luther himself came forward to assail the dogma of [[Roman supremacy]] by [[Episcopal polity|divine right]]. The debate on [[papal primacy]] was succeeded by discussions of [[purgatory]], [[indulgences]], [[penance]], etc. On 14 and 15 July, Karlstadt resumed the debate on [[free will]] and [[good works]]. Finally, Duke George declared the disputation closed, and each of the contendents departed, as usual, claiming victory.

Of the two universities to which the final decision had been reserved, the [[University of Erfurt]] declined to intervene and returned the documents; the [[University of Paris]] sat in judgment upon Luther's writings, attaching to each of his opinions [[theological censure]]. Luther gained the support of [[Melanchthon]].

The Leipzig Disputation was the last occasion on which the ancient custom of swearing to advance no tenet contrary to Catholic doctrine was observed. In all subsequent debates between Catholics and Protestants, the bare text of Holy Writ was taken as the authority. This placed the Catholics in a disadvantageous position. This was particularly the case in Switzerland, where [[Zwingli]] and his lieutenants organized a number of one-sided debates under the presidency of town councils already won over to Protestantism. Such were the disputations of Zurich, 1523, of Swiss Baden, 1526, and of Berne, 1528. In all of these the result was the abolition of Catholic worship and in their opinion the desecration of churches and religious institutions.