18 SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Preus, J.S. Carlstadt's Ordinaciones and Luther's Liberty, A Study of the l|ittenberg
Movement. Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press, 1974.
Sahas, D.J. Icon and Logos. Sources in Eighth Century lconoclasm. Toronto:
Univ. of Toronto Press, 1986.
Scavizzi, G, Arte e architettura sacra, Cronache e documenti sulla controversia
fra rifurmati e cattolici. Rome: Casa del Libro, 1982.
ider, R.J. Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt. The Development of His Thought,
1517-1525, I-eiden: Brill, 1975.
Karlstadt's Battle with Luther. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1979.
Smolinsky, H. "Reformation und Bildersturm: H. Emsers Schrift gegen Karlstadt
iiber die Bilderverehrung." In Reformatio ecclesiae. Ed, R, Báumer. Paderborn,
1980, pp,42744O.
Stirm, M, Die Bilderfrage in der Reformaíion. Gutersloh: Gutersloher Verlagshaus,
1977.
Theophanes. Chronicle, Engl. tr. and ed. by H. Turtledove. Philadelphia: Univ.
of Pennsylvania Press, 1982.
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On the Removal of Images'
by Andreas Karlstadt
On the Removal of ldols
i. That we have images in churches and houses of God is wrong and
contrary to the first commandment. Thou shalt not have other gods.
ii. That to have carved and painted idols set up on the altars i even
more injurious and diabolical.
iii. Therefore it is good, nece ary, praiseworthy, and pious that we
remove them and give Scrlfture its due and in so doing accept its
judgement.
God's houses are buildings in which God alone should be glorified,
invoked, and adored. As Christ says: My house is a house of prayer and
you make it a murderers' cave [Matt. 21:13]. Deceitful images bring death
to those who worship and praise them, as it is written of them: They are
strangers to God and completely covered with shame and have become
as loathsome as the things they have loved (Hosea 9[:10]). We could
never deny that it is out of love that we have placed the so-called saints in
churches, If we had not loved them, we would not have set them up where
God alone should dwell and rule. Had we been opposed to them, we would
have fled them rather than embraced them. Our deeds convict us of loving
images. Have we not shown them the honour which we show exclusively
to great lords? Why have we caused them to be painted and coloured,
to be adorned with velvet, damask, silver, and golden robes? Why do
1 The word bylder of, the sixteenth-century German title is often rendered as
'icons'in English. We have preferred the word 'images' for bylder because the
modern meaning of the word icon is nanower and calls to mind a specifically
Byzantine tradition and the images used in the Orthodox church. It should also
be noted that we have omitted in this translation a long dedication to Count
wolf schlick,
ANDREAS KARISTADT
we deck them out with golden crowns? With precious stones? And offer
them that honour and love that we do not willingly give our children, our
wives, our parents, our most exalted princes and lords? Who can believe
us when we say: We have not loved the idols, the carved and painted
images? When our actions have betrayed us? God hates and is jealous of
pictures, as I will demonstrate, and considers them an abomination, and
proclaims that all men in his eyes are like the things they love. Pictures
are loathsome. It follows that we also become loathsome when we love
them.2
Thus images bring death to those who worship or venerate them. Therefore,
our temples might be rightly called murderers' caves, because in them
our spirit is stricken and slain. May the Devil reward the popes who thus
bring death and destruction upon us. It would be a thousand times better
if they [images] were set up in hell or the fiery furnace than in the houses
of God.
Now hear more about the nature and origin of the house built for God.
Solomon speaks as follows: Thy house, oh God, is made solely that there
thou mightest regard the devotion of thy servant and accept the prayers that
he pours out before thee and thine eyes are upon this house day and night,
wherein thy name shall be invoked (2 Chronicles 6[:19-21] and 1 Kings
8[:2&-30]). In the same book Solomon enumerates many things which
ought to be uniquely dedicated to God.3 Thus it is especially amazing to
me how God has borne and suffered our great evil up to this time.
See! The house of God is made for this purpose, that he alone should
rule in it and, as our helper, should open his eyes to us in our need.
Further, God alone should be worshipped there. Moreover, only God's
name should be invoked therb. I would like to know what answer we
could give to true Christians and Jews, who have an understanding of the
Bible, or even to God, who has given us his teaching through the Holy
Spirit, when they or he asks: How is it that you are so audacious as to set
up images and idols in my house? How can you be so bold and impudent
that in my house you bow down and kneel before pictures which have
2 For Karlstadt to insist on the admission 'we have loved images' is in accord
with the Erasmian criticism of images, and contrary to the claim of the
Catholic theologians that images were een by people only as signs. The most
recent survey of Erasmus' criticism of images-which undoubtedly influenced
Karlstadt-is in Eirc, War against the ldols,2L53.
3 Karlstadt is refening to 1 Kings 7, which provides a catalogue of materials
and objects used in the construction of the Temple.
ON THE REMOVAL OF IMAGES
been made by the hands of men? Such honours belong to me, You light
candles before them. But if you want to set candles burning and blazing,
you should do so [only] for me. You bring them wax offerings in the form
of your affficted legs, arms, eyes, head, feet, hands, cows,.calves, oxen,
tools, house, court, fields, meadows, and the like, just as if the pictures
had healed your legs, arms, eyes, heads etc. or had bestowed upon you
fields, meadow , houses, honours, and possessions.a
Therefore you confess other gods. I heal you and [bear] your [sorrows].
I have nourished them and carried them in my hands and they have not
known that I have healed them and borne their sorrows (Hosea 11[:3]). I
have redeemed them and they have spoken lies against me. I have taught
them and strengthened their arms and they imagine mischief against rne
(Hosea 7[:13, 15]). I have nourished them and raised them up, but they
scorn me.
The ox knows his owner and the dull-witted ass the master's crib. But
Israel (that is my people) knows me not and my people do not understand
the good I have done for them. Alas for the sinful nation (Isaiah 1|2a|,
I cannot deny, but must confess, that God might in all justice say to our
supposed Christians what he said to the Jews. For they run to the idols
like crows and ravens after a carcass and fly to a lifeless cadaver. They
seek them in particular places, such as Wilsnack in the Brandenburg Mark,
Grimmenthal, Rome, and similar places. They bring them tools, silver,
gold, wax, and goods as if they were their gods who have delivered them,
*ho huu. protected them and they are far blinder than the oxs in lripzig
or the ass in n.n.6 who indeed know what good is given them and from
whom it comes. So they invoke idols in the house of God and seek health,
support, and counsel from insensate dummies. And the people vilify God
in his house, which is a good and important enough reason to drag idols
out of the churches. Not to mention that many a man doffs his cap, which
he would wear if his man-made god were not before him. I do not regard
4 The reference is to er voío offerings, often of precious objects, which were left
beside images by those who believed that images had conferred some benefit
on them.
5 Not long before writing the Abtuhung, Karlstadt had directed a tract against
Dr. Ochsenfarth in Leipzig, See Lietzmann's edition of tbe Ábtuhung, p, 6,
n. 18.
6 The town must have been named in the manuscript. Lietzmann notes a space
of about twelve tetters in the text where the letters n,n, (nomen nomen) now
stand, and supposes that the reference may be to Emser. See Lietzmann's,
edition of theAbtuhung, p.6, n. 19.
21
22 ANDREAS KARI-STADT
it lightly that they bend a knee before the saints. I say more of this in
what follows.?
That to assume a po ture of veneration before pictures is contrary to
the first commandment no one should have to learn from me, but, rather,
should learn from Scripture. In Exodus 20[:3] it is written: Thou shalt
have no other gods. That is to ay, you should not attribute the goodness,
support, grace, mercy, and forbearance of God to any other but the true
God. Learn that through an example: God led the Jews out of Egypt and
delivered them from the chains of servitude. They should have attributed
that same goodness to no other god. But they made a calf and said: These
are the gods of Israel which have led you out of Egypt (Exodus 32|a|.8
That calf was an alien god that had not freed the Jews, and they nevertheless
said that it had led them out of Egypt. Thus all men make alien
gods when they ascribe the benefits they have received to any but the true
God. This is what grieves God himself over and over again in Scripture,
as I have said above. That is the reason for which God reproaches Israel:
that they chose a king (1 Sam. 8[:,t-10]; Hosea 13|:I-2]).
One can make a man into an alien god. A man can proclaim himself to
be an alien god, as it is written. Cursed is the man who puts his faith in
a man and strengthens his arm. But blessed is the man who puts his hope
in God, whose hope is the Lord (Jeremiah 17[:5-7]). That is the reason
the prophet again and again bind themselves with an oath, saying: I will
not place my trust in my bow, and my sword will not save me [Psalm
43:7]. You shall not put confidence in princes [Psalm 117:9]. They say
this because they will not make any other god and because they want no
image in their hearts. They want to confess him alone who cannot be
depicted. For God cannot tolerate that.
For this reason God said (immediately after he gave the commandment,
7 Karlstadt does not always distinguish between the issue of images and the cult
of the saints. The medieval Church had justified images primarily because
they helped the faithful to be mindful of the saints and it is natural therefore
that Karlstad! in his zeal to attack anything that stands between man and God,
was sometimes not able to sepaíate the two problems.
8 The verses on idolatry in the Decalogue (Ex. 20:4-5) were omitted in medieval
catechisms because they were believed to apply exclusively to the Jews of the
Old Testament. Luther accepted this tradition, as did, of course, the Catholic
Church. Karlstadt, tike Zwingli and Calvin after him, believed instead that
the commandment against images was valid for Jews and Christians alike. On
the various interpretation of the commandments in the sixteenth century, see
Stirm, Bilderfrage,229ff.., and below, note 22.
ON TI{E REMOVAL OF IMAGES
Thou shalt have no other gods before me): Thou shalt make no carved or
graven image. Thou shalt make no likeness of anything in the heavens
above or the earth below or that is in the water. Thou shalt not worship
them. Thou shalt not venerate them. I am your God, a strong and vengeful
God, a jealous God who punishes the sons for the sins of their fathers
(Exodus 20[:atr.]).
See how God prohibits any kind of image because men are frivolous
and aíe inclined to worship them. For this reason God said: Thou shalt
not worship them, thou shalt not honour them. Thereby God prohibits
all veneration and smashes the refuge of the papists who at all times do
violence to Scripture through their subtlety and make black out of white,
svil out of good. Thus if one were to say: Indeed, I do not worship
images; I do not venorate them for themselves, but for the sake of saints
which they signify. God's answer is short and clear.
Thou shalt not worship them. Thou shalt not venerate them. Make
whatever gloss you can, thou shalt absolutely not worship them, thou
shalt not bend thy knee before them, thou shalt not light a candle before
them. God says: If I had wanted you to venerate me oímy saints in
pictures, l would not have forbidden you to make pictures and likenesses.
Now I want to prove that Christians must confess that they venerate
their idols. The grounds [for the proofl: because they bow and scrape
before them (for the sake of dead holy men) I can definitely conclude that
they venerate images. For if I venerate a marshal in the name of the prince
he serves, I venerate both him and his prince. I venerate the servant as
the servant of the prince, and do so before I venerate ihe prince. Thus
it cannot be denied that some of the veneration goes to him as a servant.
Therefore, when I venerate an image because of God, I truly venerate that
which God has forbidden.g
Now I will ask in addition, is it a trifling honour that we call images
saints? If we were willing to think clearly, we would find that we deflect
honour from the true saints and transfer it to deceitful pictures of them.
Therefore, we are calling images saints and attributing sanctity to them.
Moreover, it cannot be denied that it is a gíeat honour to be on the
altar. Indeed, the pope deems it such an honour that he permits no pious
9 The defence of the cult of images rested traditionally on the idea of vicarious
veneration (the image taking the place of tbe saint as the marshal takes the
place of the absent prince). According to this theory any cult directed to the
image (as respect shown to the marshal) goes to the saint represented therein,
so that the physical object (like the marshal) i not veneratedper se, This was
the doctrine of the prototype as outlined by St Basil.
ANDREAS KARI^STADT
layman to stand or recline on an altar. It is truly a great and high honour
when you place someone there where one handles the body of Christ,
where God alone should be invoked, on,the altar that has been established
for the special honour of God, for his own veneration.
Altars were invented so that one might invoke God's name on them, and
on them make sacrifices and venerate him alone. For this reason Noah built
his altar (Gen. 8[:20]). Likewise Abraham (Gen. 12[:8]). Likewise Moses
(Exodus 17[:15]). Thus God indicated the reasons for altars (Exodus
20|:24tr.j): that his name should be praised and whatever sacrifices one
wants to make be offered to him. we offer such veneration to idols when
we place them on altars and light candles before them, and when we call
upon them in the name of the saints they represent. Everything that we
peďorm on altars we should do for God (Deut.27|:5?]). Therefore it is
never possible to have them on the altars and at the same time wish to
deny that we venerate them.lo
Now because altars were established exclusively for invoking the name
of God, it is far more diabolic to put images of the saints on altars than
to nail them to walls. This we will discuss in the next section.
Pope Gregory has not forgotten his papist nature and offers to a likeness
the veneration which God has given to his Word, and says that pictures
are the books of the laity. Is it not truly a papist teaching and prompting
of the Devil to say that Christ's sheep may use forbidden and deceitful
books and examples?l1
Christ says: My sheep listen to my voice [John 10:27]. He does not
say: They see my image or images of the saints.
God says: My sheep are the sheep of my pasture [John 10:16]. That
is to say, the pasture of my teachings, not the pasture of my images.
Moses says: You shall teach your children the Word of God from their
youth. But Gregory says: The laity shall use images for books. Tell me,
dear Gregory, or have someone else tell me, what good things could the
laity indeed learn from images? Certainly you must say that one learns
from them nothing but the life and the suffering of the flesh and that they
10 In Wittenberg in l52I the issue of images was intertwined with other contíoversial
issues like the cult of the saints, ma s, and sacrifice. Karlstadt speaks
of altars because the image of the saints-whether painted or carved-were
in fact placed on them. This meant for him that the special symbol of man's
worship of God was polluted by idol worship.
tl The theory of the Biblia pauperum was outlined in the writings of John of
Damascus, but went back to Gregory I. See Introduction, note 18.
ON T IE REMOVAL OF IMAGES
do not lead further than to the flesh. More they cannot do. For example,
from the image of the crucified Christ you learn only about the suffering
of Christ in the flesh, how his head hung down and the like. Now Christ
says that his own flesh is of no use but that the spirit is of use and gives
life [John 6:64]. Thus Peter too says that Christ had words of eternal life
and spirit [John 6:69]. Since, then, images are deaf and dumb, can neither
see nor hear, neither learn nor teach and point to nothing other than pure
and simple flesh which is of no use, it follows conclusively that they are
of no use. But the Word of God is spiritual and alone is of use to the
faithful.
Therefore it is not true that images are the books of the laity. For they
may learn nothing of salvation from them, and take absolutely nothing
from them which serves salvation or is necessary to a Christian life. I
do not want to go on at length and [thereby] give images the veneration
which Gregory offers his idols. I note, however, why the popes have put
such books [i.e. images] before the laity. They observed that when they
pastured their lambs in books [i.e. Scripture] their rubbish-market did not
flourish. And one would want to know what is godly and ungodly, right
and wrong. Paul says that we should persevere in the teaching of Christ
[1 Tim. 4:16], and Christ proclaims that he taught his disciples the Word
of his Father (John 17[:6]). They never thought of an image.
Christ also says that the truth makes men free and makes them his
disciples (John 8[:31-32]). No image can do that. Thus saying that
likenesses are the books of the laity is precisely the same as saying that
the laity ought not to be the disciples of Christ, should never be free
from the bonds of the Devil and should also not enter into the godly
and christian life. paul also teaches that we should have no connection
with those who venerate likenesses (1 Cor. 5[:11]), and adds: You should
not venerate images. You should flee the honouring of images (1 Cor.
10[:1a}. See how Paul hates the rqyerence of likenesses and how we
ought to have nothing in common with thoše who venerate images thus,
even if they do not actually worship them.
Indeed, they say, Paul says that images are nothing (1 Cor. 8[:a]). We
also know in our hearts, [they say], that images are not gods and that there
is only one God. Answer: I wish to God that those who use images for
books really did know that in their hearts, but I cannot believe it. And
did you not also hear that Paul says that we should flee the honouring of
images?12
12 St Paul's statement that idols are nothing (1 Cor. 8:4) had been used by
ANDREAS KARI-STADT
Do you not know that Paul says that those who do such things will not
po ess the kingdom of God [I Cor, 6;9]? How can you bring the laity to
the kingdom of God when you offer to a likeness that veneration which
God has given to his Word alone? When you put them in the place where
God alone should be venerated and invoked? I want now, O Priest, O
Monk, to stir your heart and make you come to the conclusion that you
cleave to images and have a true idol in the image that the hands of men
have made.
Now, finally, you should also take it to heart that I absolutely cannot
advise the mortally ill to cling to carved or painted crucifixes.l3 The
reason is that they erve no purpose, as has been said, and cannot bring
the sick any further than to the physical suffering of Christ, which is of
no avail, as Christ himself says: The flesh is of no use (John 6[:64]). It
does not please Paul that you know Christ after the flesh, Therefore he
says: We do not know Christ according to the flesh [2 Cor. 5:16]. But
our image-Iovers want the laity to know Christ in the flesh, which avails
nothing. They want to teach how Christ hung on the cross rather than why
he was hanged. They teach about his body, his beard, his wounds. Of the
power of Christ they teach nothing at all. But without the power of Christ
no one is saved. So I say, in the first place, that many thousands will be
saved without the physical presence of Christ, and, second, that images
in general are forbidden and prophets have preached against likenesses
(Habakkuk 2[:19|. God says: Woe to him who ay to the wood, Awake!
And to the silent stone says, Surge or Rise up! How can a piece of wood
or a lump of stone teach? It may well be decorated with silver or gold,
but there is no spirit in it (Habbakuk 2[:19]). Behold then how God heaps
evil upon those who say to a piece of wood: Wake up! That is, in effect,
said when you show devotion to a piece of wood. God also says: Woe
to him who says to a stone, Rise up-which is to say*Help me. Thus
fools say to the dying when they are caught in the snares of death: See,
now you have the l-ord Jesus in your hands. Habbakuk says there is no
spirit in a likeness. When God rises up, all likenesses fall. Where images
sit, God cannot be. As it is written in the fifth chapter of Micah: I will
destroy the likenesses in your midst and you shall no longer pray to the
works of your own hands [Micah 5:12]. Thirdly, even if I did profess that
Melanchthon to oppo e a removat of images (N. Miiller in Archiv fiir Reformation
Geschichte (1908-9), 436ff,
13 Because the crucifix was believed to have 8reat power over the Devil, one was
always kept near omeone who was dying. Both Emser and Eck makc much
of this.
ONTHEREMOVALOFIMAGES n
likenesses should be allowed, which no christian can, nevertheless there
is no consolation except in the Word of God, in which the just man has
his life, health, and salvation. Therefore it is incomparably wiser that you
recite the two gospel texts which the t ord gave at the end and before his
death. That is to say, that you explain to a sick and dying man the content
and meaning of these comforting words: My body is given for you; my
blood is poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins fLuke 22:17tr.].
These gospel texts have a living spirit. The image of Christ is nothing
other than wood, stone, silver or gold and the like. Fourthly, I must tell
the Gregorists the story of Bishop Epiphanius who in the time of Jerome
removed a cloth from the church because an image of a saint or a crucified
Christ was painted on it in violation of the scriptural prohibition. It can
be seen clearly from this that early on the Christians hated likenesses and
banished them from the houses of God. Epiphanius arrived in Anablatha
and there went into a church and saw a dyed and painted curtain on the
door which had an image that was a likeness of Christ or of a saint. He
says that he did not really know what image it was, but nevertheless he
did not want to allow it in the church because it hung there contrary to
Scripture. Therefore, he cut down the curtain. This is to be found in
the writings of Jerome.14 Even if I might admit that the laity could learn
something useful of salvation from images, nevertheless I could not permit
that which is contrary to scriptural prohibitions and against God's will.
Scripture clearly states that God hates the pictures which the papists call
books and is jealous of them. I ask you, if you were opposed in your
heart to an image and wanted neither to see it nor hear it, how would you
like it if someone wanted to learn about you and venerate you in such
a hateful and honible book [i.e. the book of images]? Without a doubt
you would hate and shun me with my little book or image if I wanted
to honour you by means of that which you forbid, which you hate and
which you shun. Now God says that he cannot tolerate any image which
we make and that he hates and is jealous of all who love images, as we
said above. And Isaiah writes (Isaiah a2|:1,7}: Those who trust in images
shall be tormented with shame.
Note that God made an image of fire. And he ordered a serpent to
be made which was not the image of him, but was erected for no other
14 Migne, ed., PZ vol. 22, 526. Karlstadt cites Erasmus' edition of Jerome (Basel,
1516. Tomo 3, fol. lxx3. ira. c.). The story is in a letter from Epiphanius to
John of Jerusalem which Jerome translated. See Elliger, Die Stellung d,er alten
Christen zu d,en Bildern (I*ipzig, 1930), 53-60.
28 ANDREAS KARISTADT
purpose than that those who had been bitten or wounded by snakes might
look upon that image and be made whole (Num. 21[:9]). That image was
given by God himself and was not created by a human mind. Nevertheless,
Scripture praises King Hezekiah (2 Kings 18[:a) for breaking the bronze
erpent in pieces because the Jews sacrificed to it.15
Our images are not from God; indeed, they are forbidden by God. Still
we try to defend them, heedless that the many poor people who offer them
candles and money, who kneel and uncover their heads before them, injure
and do harm to themselves in that way. Yet we go on defending idols
and images, pre erve them in the churches and allow the poor innocent
lambs of God to come to grief through such terrible abuse. And we want
to honour them as books.
Therefore I must again speak of the uselessness of images. But everything
according to Scripture, for I do not desire anyone to believe me
or accept my authority. Indeed, may the Devil thank you if you believe
me and accept my authority. Turn your ear and eyes to Scripture, which
says: The maker of images are nothing and there is no profit in the most
precious and most cherished thing [Isaiah 44:9].
They themselves witness that their images see and understand nothing
(Isaiah aa[:9]). Here make note, you idolatrous unbeliever, that the maker
of an image is nothing and that his very best work avails nothing, Yes,
certainly, they are of no use for salvation. You yourself must confess that
you will not ask an image-maker what profits you for salvation because
he is an image-maker. How, therefore, can Pope Gregory make so bold
as to say, Images are the books of the laity, when artists can teach nothing
useful for salvation? Note that your artists can see, hear, and understand
and bear witness to the fact that their images can neither see nor hear, nor
have understanding. And you do not and ought not to want image-makers
as books. How, theň, could you take images for books?
How could images be useful to you as books? Who can deny that books
are useful? No one. Who may say that images are useful when your maker
of images is useless? No one. Now I want to briefly demonstrate that
images in themselves are also useless, proving everything with reference
to Isaiah 44. He is an evangelical prophet. Isaiah says [44:9-11]: Who
has formed or made God and made the graven image that profits nothing?
t5 The brazen serpent, the cherubim of the mercy seat and the images of the
temple of Solomon were for the Catholic theologians clear proof that God
approved images. Karlstadt, needless to say, mentions the erpent only to
record its destruction at the hands of Hezekiah.
ON THE REMOVAL OF IMAGES
Behold, all the makers and friends of images are shamed, They shall all
be gathered together and be frightened and made to tremble.
And he goe on to tell, almost mockingly and sarcastically, how the
idols are made and are of no profit [44:.12-1,6],
Nor can I pass over in silence the fact that God cannot suffer any of
the bowing and scraping and stooping with which we honour the idols.
Thus God speaks through Isaiah.
The maker of images makes an image and bows before it. He bows
before it and prays and says: Free me, deliver me, for you are my god
[Isaiah 44:t7].
Thus, they have forgotten that the eyes of the image do not see and
they have no understanding in their hearts and do not consider what they
have said before: I have burned half the wood with which I have made
this god. And with one half of the branch I have roasted my meat and
fired my oven. With the other half I have made this idol. Before this
chunk of wood I want to fall down [Isaiah 44:18-19]. At the end of the
same chapter God says: I am the Lord who made all things and no one
with me (Isaiah aa|:za|.
If I had time and space I would gladly treat Isaiah more thoroughly,
but for the sake of brevity I will begin with the end and then come back
to the start, thereby returning to the introductory material. See, and note
well, that images in churches are contrary to the first commandment. And
that God does not tolerate our placing anything created next to him. Thus
he proclaims: I am the Lord who made all things and none with me.
You holy gluttons should mark well that God alone gives aid and no
one else with him or beside him. So it must indeed be true (if the truth
is to be the truth) that nothing created next to God can help us. Now tell
me, you worshipper or venerator of idols, if the saints could not help you,
how could deceitful images help you? You want to venerate the saints
in images and offer [them] that very veneration which in their lives they
shunned and forbade. They, when they were alive, did not allow you
to make offerings to them or invoke them, as Peter says: There is only
one name among men whereby you may be saved (Acts a[:12]). lf there
is only on name, why do you (blockhead) make many names among
humankind in which you promise salvation?
Do you not know that they looked at Peter and were amazed and Peter
said: You men, what amazes you? And why do you look at us, as though
we had made the lame man walk through our own power and force? We
have made him whole through faith in the Lord Jesus who the God of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob sent (Acts 3[:12ff.]). Observe, you fat and
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30 ANDREAS KARLSTADT
rotund image-maker, that in his life peter forbade you to represent himafter his death. Do you imagine that he would now give us anotherdoctrine, and one contrary to that which he gave us when alive? Youacknowledge that everything he said and taught [wh"n h; ;;;;ii;;i
"",n"from the Holy spirit. where else would his Laching come from in death?Peter said: You ought not look on u , But you respond to this now bysaying: we should not look on images as if they oia
"nyiiinfiylirru"of their own power.
But listen! If only you spoke the truth. And if only you did not havea persona| idol with a greater power over you. But rvir.i ao yo,, *un'
'o
say about the revellers' verse: o Saint Cňristopher, your po*or""." ,ogreat that whoever looks upon you early in the morning st
"it
taugt, o, tiu"in the evening? Tell me how many thousand, or p"o}r"-iu;;;;;; .gaze for time upon the image of St Christopher in order that they mightbe protected from sudden death? And tr,atitey might live happily untilthe night, Have these people not put ,ou"i.top" ina t*.t
"'niloug},tconsolation
in looking at depictions of St Christápher?ro
-- ---- '-!
Because of this scandalous state of affairs you should counsel [every-one] to believe that a,ll images should be dragged down to the Devil.For behold now whether these people ao not iJot up
'"
iň"-iň"g"
"rChristopher as a god.
You must also admit to me that many of the laity take great comfortand put much hope in other images.
Is not this kind of an entreaty called worship? Dear lord come, come,
tr#*Tírxt :::Tl*,to
say: Dear image iree ,", ,"u. ;;;;;"
1ook! You have permitted.the.laity to light candles before images of StPaul, Peter, and Barnabas and bring ir,"* 3m"i,ngs, something which thesaints themselves, in their lifetimes, shunned like the plague. Nevertheless,
if You are the super-clever philosophe., ir you ure such an erudite fellow,I beg You, in a friendly way, to teli me wháther paul, peter, and Barnabaswould themselves have permitted us to place them [their i,o.g".]
"" "ltrr.z
you must say no and no again. wtry dá you ,"i'tr,ěi. ro.uJí"n'im;;;;;"
altars, images which they would nát nuu"
""".p'"aZ
N"á
"i"ď,ii*,16 we alluded in the Introduction to the popular belief that gazing upon an imageof st Christopher assured one of not oying in i".i"l ,l" o;;i;;",hfi;;:'rff:"the image of St Christopher was to i. ounJ .rr.rywhere (Coulton, Art andReform,ation,305). Erasmus, in the encnt,uion militis Christiaru, cites thisas a clear example of
9:.|..e:. and superstitions are related. See Erasmi,Opera omnia (Leiden, 1704), col,26.
||
\n,
ON THE REMOVAL OF IMAGES 31
friend, that to bow and kneel are forms of veneration which you give to
images against the will of God, as was demonstrated in the passag"e from
Isaiah 44 cited above.
Mark also how mad, foolish, and nonsensical are those who give such
veneration to images. For Isaiah says [Is. 44:I7ff,l: They bow bÁre their
gods and pro trate themselves and have forgotten and do not understand
that their images do not ee or hear. They-do not understand that-they
have carved splinters and wood from a log 1w},ich they betieve io u. ,saint).with_ which they have cooked their rieat and warmed their rooms.
That they do not want to see- Therefore they shall be conrounaeolri"rr u"
afraid and tremble, and shall be destroyed. b no* evil it will u" ro, iior"who, caught in the throes of death, cleave unto idols and bow and kneel
before them. It will be no excuse that they have done this to the saints.
God knows their hearts better than they themselves and will accuse them
with his word because they have venerated images, For he said: Thou
shalt not venerate them (Exodus 20[:5]).
Now I come back to the beginning ánd turn to Isaiah, who says: They
are of no use (Isaiah aa[:n|,
Books are of use to readers. It follows that images are not books for
the_laity, contrary to what Gregory and his entire co-mpany say.
Listen to what Ezekiel says, you Gregorists and pápisis! if ,ny rn.n
furn away from me an!
9e.ts
his heart upon idols uná ó*.*
'o "
|ío|r,",and consults me through him, then l wiil in my own person answer him
and will make him a sign and a proverb; I will cut him off from the
midst of my people (Ezekiel 1a[:7-8]). See here, you praiser or iaot,
what Ezekiel says about images ánd dó not forget on your life that when
you take an idol or image to your heart (as many do, a was said in
connection with the image of St_ Christopher) God will destroy you
"nOdamn you and wilt answer you himself. 'irru, coa answers us in his own
words: you shall not look to prophets. But let the man who in these times
inquires of doctors, master , and bachelors of art about such things and
does not believe unwaveringly in the voice of the
'ord
hear what r6ito*fo E"ť"| 14 [:9-10]: If a prophet errs, I, the Lord, have made him err
and will destroy him from the.midst of my people. See how God destroys
both the prophet who errs and makes oth"o
"i,
.* i*.i ň;;;;"consults such a prophet. Act accordingly.r7
If a man knows the prohibition aná will of God, he should follow it
strictly and listen neither to angels, nor to saints, nor to prophets who
il:il
17 In all this mention of doctors etc. there may lurk a reference to Luther,
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ANDREAS KARLSTADT
want to lure him away from the divine commandment, although they
may appear to mean well. The story in 1 Kings 13 teaches this in clear
words.
God sent one of his servants to King Jeroboam and ordered him not
to eat or drink [in the house of the king], That prophet or man of God,
Semeas,18 understood God's prohibition, but he allowed himself to be led
astray by another prophet, who said: I am a prophet also, as you are, and
an angel of God inspired me, saying, Take him back with you in your
house that he may eat and drink, Semeas did that and was disobedient to
the Word of God. Therefore God had him torn apart by a lion (1 Kings 13
[:lff., especially verse 24]).
Note that when we have the word of the Lord and want to be disobedient
to the will of God and allow ourselves to be persuaded and deceived
by others, we must die. Even if the persuasive but deceitful man takes the
form of a prophet, or an angel, or a teacher, or a Christian who peďorms
a good Christian work for you and wants to give you food and drink, if
his good deed prevents you from being obedient to the divine words and
commandments, you shall not follow him; not even if he were a stout,
brawny, fat monk or doctor [of theology]. But if you follow someone
because of his position, appearance, beautiful words, and protestations of
friendship, and thus fail to observe God's prohibition, you must certainly
die (like Semeas) by the lion who walks about in the world seeking whom
he may devour [1 Peter 5:8].
Therefore God slew the sons of Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, because
they offered before God an alien fire which he had not commanded ([,evi
10[:1ff.]).
Note that when one [of them] ignited a fire which was identical in
character and heat to the fire of the Lord, nevertheless, because it was
alien, God punished those who offered such a fireAccordingly,
I say that even though pictures may have the appearance
of a good thing, we should nevertheless not tolerate them in churches and
among the faithful. For as Balaam had to confess: There is no picture in
Jacob and no idol in Israel. This is clearly expressed in Numbers ?3|:21l
and Exodus 20|\. For this íeason no Christian or believer should take
up images, because he clearly hears [the I-ord's commandment]: You
shall have no images. The believer shall live according to the Word and
disregard appearance, whatever shape or name it might have.
If someone comes and says that images teach and instruct the laity just
ON THE REMOVAL OF IMAGES
as books do the learned, then answer him: God has forbidden me to u e
images and therefore I do not want to learn anything from them.
If someone else comes and says [that] images remind and recall to us
the sufferings of the [,ord and often bring it about that someone offers
an our Father and turns his mind to God who would otherwise neither
pray nor be mindful of God, then you, my Christian, respond: God has
forbidden images. Again, Christ said that God is a spirit. All who truly
worship God, worship him in the spirit (John a[:2a]). All who worship
God in images, worship in untruth. Only in appearance and with outward
show do they think on God. But their hearts are foreign to God, and
[they] make themselves their own idol in their hearts and are full of lies.
As Isaiah in chapter U[:20l says: Your foolish and silly heart worships
them and does not say, I have a lie in my right hand.
Also, no Christian can deny that spiritual prayer is divine work which
God alone effects, as it is written in Jeremiah 33[:6]: I shall manifest to
them prayer and the worship of peace and truth. What God alone can do,
no image can. You also may not say that the image of Christ brings you
Christ, for that is not true. No man can come to me except that my Father
draw him (John 6[:aa]). All who come to Christ must be disciples of God
and not be reminded or taught by images to come to Christ.
lf you heap together all the images on earth, they still will not be able
to offer a single sigh to God on your behalf.
Whenever I want to have an outward admonition and reminder, I should
ask for the one which Scripture indicates, not the one which it hates and
forbids. I would much rather fall with horse and cart into sore tribulation
and distress than come to an image to be reminded of salvation, lsaiah
denies that images are of use, yet they would have to be of some use if they
were to lead us to God in true thoughts (Isaiah aa[:10]). That affliction
outwardly teaches and admonishes and makes us reflect and cause us to
know, invoke, and worship God is taught in Scripture: Defeat and vexation
give understanding (Isaiah 28[:19]). For you have punished me and I have
been instructed (Jeremiah 31[:18]). God chastises us and teaches us, like
a father his son (Proverbs 3|:I2|, Hebrews 12[:6]). God wants us to cry
unto him in the day of our trouble (Psalm 85[:7]).
But God does not want us to call on him when we see images. He
wants us to hate them and flee from them.
In that day when the Lord is exalted, men will cast away their images
and flee from them (Isaiah 2[:17-18],31|:7); Micah 5[:12]). From this it
follows that images are indeed not books from which we should learn.
A Christian, therefore, can understand that pictures should not be called
33
18 In 1 Kings 13 the prophet eaten by a lion is not named.
34 ANDREAS KARISTADT
books. Books instruct. But images cannot instruct, as Habakkuk says in
chapter 2[:19l. Habakkuk says of a stone idol: Is it possible that iícan
teach? From that it follows and there is no gainsayingitrat images are not
books. For if they were books or could teach what books do]then they
would have to teach and instruct. From all this everybody can see that
Gregory the pope has indeed taught in a papish, that is to sáy unchristian,
way when he offers pictures to the laity on the pretext they are books.
Scripture compares images and idols to youths and says that in many
places the godless commit whoredom with images u, .,,ho.". do with
youths. I must be crude and obnoxious, but I am not ashamed to speak as
scripture speaks-straightforwardly. I have shattered their hearts, which
have turned from me. Iia_ve torn out their eyes which have gone whoring
after images (Ezekiel 6[:9]). Again: You have made for yoirself images
in the shape of men and have been impure with them 1nzeruet 6[:9]). The
gold and silver which I have given to you for your ornament you have
used to make images and have whored with them. you have t.k"n you,
clothes and clothed those same images with them (Ezekiel rcl:n-is11.
we do that in the case of [carnival] clowns whom we certainli have no
intention of regarding as alien gods, much less being told thai they are
our gods. However we are open in word and deed befóre the world á the
charge that we take images for gods and give them names and venerate
them. For we call the image of the crucifi"a on" a lord god and now and
again say that it is the Lord Jesus. we also venerate it as though christ
himself were present. The unholy popes and crazy monks have- brought
us to this. we also say that this image is st sebastian and that one is st
Nicholas, and the like. Thus we name them as the things God loves, and
prove our guilt with our words and deeds that images
"..
ou. gods; that
our pictures are things with which our eye commit whoredom.lnd it is
true that all who venerate images or seek help from them or worship them
are whores and adulterous women (Hosea i, Ezekiet 16). (At this point
I should have liked to settle account with a woman, one of the Devil's
1lhores. But I hope she rvill become open to the guidance of the Holy
Spirit. Let this parenthesis be my .e"oná warning to her.;rs rhe Pevil's
whores who give their gold and silver to images (so thai one can make
images in churches out ofJhat which God gave them for ornament) are
like the whores of whom Ezekiel speaks in the sixteenth chapter as we
noted above, They make images and consort itlicitly with them and cover
19 The reference is to someone in Wittenberg,
wanted to protect and defend images,
not necessarily a woman, who
ON THE REMOVAL OF IMAGES
them with their clothes and bring them precious incense, bread, wine,
beer, chickens, geese, and horses. And, in addition, they bring them their
children and sick friends, regarding which God says: Do you think this
childish behaviour is of no consequence and insignificant? we have many
writings of this sort which revile the worshippers of images as whores and
adulterous women and conclude that churches in which images are placed
and venerated ought in all fairness be regarded as whorehouses.
But all images, whether male, as st sebald, or female, as st ursula
or otilia or their kind are forbidden and should not be admitted without
exception [into the church], as is written in Deuteronomy 4[:16], for
scripture calls such venerators of images whores and adulterous *ó."n
and such deceitful images men. From this we learn how highly regarded
such idols are in the hearts of those who venerate and worship them.
That is also the reason God said in the first commandment: I am a
jealous God (Exodus 20[:5]), He wants to be our only dear friend and
that we should ask only him for help and pray to him alone. Thus do
Hosea 2[:24] and other prophets teach (Isaiah I[:29], 4a|:ttr.]).
God knows very well how dangerous and harmful images are and how
we can be violated by them in an instant. Therefore, through Moses, he
forbid them many times and often caused his prophets to condemn them.
No excuse or pretext can help you, even if you speak a thousand times.
you say: l do not venerate the images of saints for their own sake but for
the sake of what they represent. Ah, you irirpious whore, do you think
God does not know your heart more profoundly and better than you? If
God did not know that someone could so easily make an idol foi which
he feels nothing, then God would have allowed us to venerate images in
names other than his own. Help yourself, cover yourself, and crawl into
every hiding place and explain away your deed as you will and can: you
will not, after all, slip away from the divine judgement and justice of God
which absolutely forbids images and condemns all who carve or praise
images or keep and venerate them (Deut. 27[:15|.
Now I want and shall say to all pious christians that all those who
stand in awe before pictures have idols in their hearts. And I want to
confess my secret thoughts to the whole world with sighs and admit that I
am faint-hearted and know that I ought not to stand in awe of any image
and am certain that God expects of his people that they should not stand
in awe of images, as it is written; you should not fear other gods, not
worship, not venerate and should not make offerings to them, but only
to God (Judges 6[:10], 2 Kings 17[:35]). And I know that God dwelling
in me is as small as my fear of idols is great. For God wants to fill our
ANDREAS KARLSTADT
whole heart and will in no way tolerate that I should have a picture before
my eyes. And again, when I put my trust in God with my whole heart, I
need not ever fear his enemies.
Therefore God or his Spirit in sacred Scripture says: You shall not
fear other gods. You shall not pray to them. You shall not venerate
them. And he teaches us that it is the same thing to venerate images
or to be in awe of them. For this reason I should not fear any image,
just as I should not venerate any. But (I lament to God) from my
youth onward my heart has been trained and grown rrp in the veneration
and worship of pictures. And a harmful fear has been bred into
me from which I would gladly deliver myself and cannot. As a consequence,
I stand in fear that I might not be able to burn idols. I would
fear that some devil's block of wood [i.e. an idol] would do me injury.
Although, on the one hand, I have Scripture and know that images have
no power and also have no life, no blood, no spirit, yet, on the other
hand, fear holds me and makes me stand in awe of the image of a
devil, a shadow, the noise of a small leaf falling, and makes me flee
that which I should confront in a manly way, Thus I might say, if one
pulls a man's hair, one finds out how firmly it is rooted, Had I not
heard the spirit of God cry out against the idols and read his Word, I
would have thought: I do not love any image; I do not stand in awe
before any image. But now I know how I, in this case, stand toward
God and images, and how strongly and deeply images are rooted in my
heart.
May God confer his grace upon me so that I no longer venerate the
devil's heads (so one commonly calls the images of saints in the church)
more than stone and wood. And God grant that I not venerate stone and
wood with the appearances and names of saints. Amen, See here Jeremiah
10[:2-5].
From the texts quoted above it follows that christians should strictly
observe God's divine will, counsel, and command, and no longer tolerate
images. And this notwithstanding the old evil custom and the pestilential
teaching of priests that images are the books of the laity. For God has
prohibited the making and keeping of images.
And God grieves deeply and painfully that we seek out images with
any degree of confidence. And he says that they make the house of God
impure and defile it (Jeremiah 32|3a\
Thus we have credible and solid proof of our first two articles, namely
the testimony of the Holy Spirit.
The proof for the third article flows naturally from the passages of
ON THE REMOVAL OF IMAGES
Scripture which have been cited and is grounded on bedrock. Nevertheless,
I want to adduce particular testimony for the third article from
Scripture.
God says that you shall do it [i.e. remove images from churches]. You
shall overturn and overthrow their altars. You shall smash their images.
Their groves you shall hack down and their graven images you shall burn
(Deuteronomy 7[:5]). We have no divine altars, but rather heathen or
human ones, as is pointed out in Exodus 20[:4]. Therefore Christians
should remove them in accord with the content of Scripture, irrespective
of the fact that they are external things. If you want to venerate God
in outward ways or seek him in ceremonies, then you should follow his
ceremonies and laws. The secular authorities should remove images and
subject them to the judgement to which Scripture has subjected them.
I should also have hoped that the living God, having inspired in us
a healthy desire for the removal of images, might have seen the task to
its conclusion. But it has not yet happened perhaps because God lets his
wrath down upon us drop by drop with the idea of pouring out his entire
wrath if we remain blind and stand in awe before things which can do
nothing for us.
I know that the authorities will be punished because Scripture does not
lie.
Had, however, our rulers accepted divine counsel and fulfilled its command
and driven the knavish and seductive blocks of wood from the church
under pain of appropriate punishment, we would have to praise them as
the Holy Spirit praised Hezekiah, who ripped down images, hacked down
grove , and broke up the image which God had given,zo as is described
in 2 Kings 18[:3tr]. May God will that our lords be like the pious secular
kings and lords of the Jews whom the Holy Spirit praises. In acred
Scripture they have always had the power to take action in churches and
abolish what offends and hinders the faithful. By divine right they may
force and compel priests to expel deceitful and damaging things. Anyone
can see this in 2 Kings 23|:4tr.], where it is written that King Josiah
ordered the high priest and the other priests to throw out all the vessels,
pillars, and the like which were made for Baal; and he burnt them outside
the city of Jerusalem. From this everyone should observe how in
accord with divine justice priests should be subordinate to kings. For this
reason our magistrates should not wait for the priests of Baal to begin to
remove their vessels, wooden blocks, and impediments, because they will
?l Tlrc btazen serpent.
38 ANDREAS KARI_STADT
never begin. The highest secular authority should command it and bring
it about. But if they allow images it will be said of them as it was said of
Manasseh in a similar case (2 Kings 21[:11,tr.]). And if they would say,
Our ancestors have established them and we want to follow in their path,
Scripture answers: Ammon did wrong, as had his father Manasseh; and
followed in the path that his father had taken (2 Kings 21[:20ff.]). As the
mother was, so is the daughter, Your mother is a Hittite and your father
an Amorite (Ezekiel 16[:a5}. God cannot endufe that we help ourselves
through subteďuge, by saying: As our elders have gone, so will we go.2l
Certain image-kissers say: The Old Law forbids images; the New does
not. And we follow the New, not the Old Law.
Dear brothers, may God protect you from this heretical statement and
prevent you from ever saying it, We do not follow the Old Law, and
we do not accept it because it belongs to people who are not Christians
and violates and trivializes the teachings of Christ. For Christ based
his teachings on Moses and the prophets. And he says that he did not
come to destroy the Law but to fulfil it (Matthew 5[:17]). And he also
instructed his disciples how he had to live and suffer so that the Scriptures
would be fulfilled. Christ also did not violate in even the slightest
way the Law of Moses. He also added nothing nor took anything
away from the Law of Moses. In short, Christ destroyed nothing which
pleased God in the Old Law. Christ upheld the letter and spirit of the
Old Law. Whoever can join together these two maxims, to wit, We
preserve the t aw through faith, and, Through faith or grace we establish
the Law, understands Moses, the prophets, Christ, and Paul. As
for the claim that the Old Law is not binding, it is too much for me to
deal with here, especially since I know the enemies of the Law would
not understand me. Therefore l want to reply as follows to the opponent
mentioned above: My dear friend, you say that the Old Law for_
bids images. For that reason you will give them a place in the houses
of God and pay little attention to that commandment. Why do you
not also say that we are not obligated to honour father and mother because
that is forbidden in the Old Law? Moreover, murder, adultery,
theft, and similar crimes are forbidden in the same tablets in which im-
2l Karlstadt advocates an orderly removal of images regulated by the secular
authorities, which, in fact, was being done in Wittenberg under the ordinances
issued by the city council (see Preus, Carlstadt's Ordinationes). That reformation
of the church should be in the care of secular authorities was a
principle shared by Luther, but rejected, of course, by the Catholics.
ON THE REMOVAL OF IMACES
ages are forbidden. And the commandment forbidding images stands at
the head of the list as the principal and greatest one. The commandments
forbidding adultery and theft, etc. come after as the lesser and
least,22
Why do you not also say: We want to permit adultery, theft, murder,
and so on in churches because those crimes are forbidden in the old Law?
Christ shows the Law to him who asks: What should I do that I may
have eternal life? Why should I not, in this case, also direct you to the
Law of Moses? You say that Isaiah and Jeremiah are evangelical prophets
and they forbid images. Why does it annoy you that they forbid images?
I say to you that God has forbidden images to no lesser degree and no
less expressly than murder, theft, plundering, adultery, and the like.
Finally, you must acknowledge that Paul is a great preacher of the
evangelical and New Law. He penetrated the depths of the Mosaic Law
and brought it to light. He announced the Christian promise, offering
consolation beyond measure. You must also say as follows: If Paul forbids
images, I must flee from them. Now listen. Paul says: They have
exchanged the splendour of the immortal God not only for the likeness
of mortal man but also for images of birds, beasts, and creeping things
(Romans 1[:?3]). Do you hear how evil and damaging Paul thinks images
are? He says that those who praise images steal the splendour of God
and offer likenesses of creatures. Therefore they diminish God and scorn
him. Therefore, Mo es again and again says that God cannot toleiate our
images and likenesses. Thus Paul and Moses agree. I have also demonstrated
from the Epistles of Paul, cited above, that no one comes to God
when he venerate images.
22 As mentioned above, Karlstadt believed the commandment prohibiting images
was valld for all time. This was part of his approach to the Old Testament at
large, which he saw as generally binding on Christians,