Johann Eck

Johann Eck (November 13, 1486 – February 13, 1543) was a 16th century theologian and defender of Catholicism during the Protestant Reformation. It was Eck who argued that the beliefs of Martin Luther and John Huss were similar.

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, although it also concerned itself to some extent with the teachings of Huldrych Zwingli.

Related Topics:
Purgatory - Auricular confession - Huldrych Zwingli

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Eck offered to refute Zwingli's "heresies" in a public disputation (13 August 1524),

Related Topics:
13 August - 1524

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and appeared at Baden, only 12 miles northwest of Zurich, but in the hands of the bitterest partisans of the Roman Church, and from May 21 until June 18, 1526, the debate went on. Zwingli was not present, but supported his friends who were there by constant suggestions. 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).

Related Topics:
Baden - Zurich - May 21 - June 18 - 1526 - Conference of Baden

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The effect of his victory at Baden was dissipated, however, at the Disputation of Bern (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 Eck played the leading part among theologians on the Roman Catholic side.

Related Topics:
Disputation of Bern - Bern - Basel - Diet of Augsburg

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