Andreas Rudolph Bodenstein von Karlstadt , better known as Andreas Karlstadt or Andreas Carlstadt or Karolostadt, or simply as Andreas Bodenstein, was a German Protestant theologian, University of Wittenberg chancellor, a contemporary of Martin Luther and a reformer of the early Reformation.
Karlstadt was a close associate of Martin Luther and one of the earliest Protestant Reformers. After Luther was concealed at Wartburg by Frederick III, Elector of Saxony, Bodenstein and Thomas Müntzer started the first iconoclastic movement in Wittenberg and preached theology that was viewed as Anabaptist. Neither Bodenstein, nor Müntzer, ever considered themselves Anabaptist.
He was a church reformer pretty much in his own right and after coming in conflict with Luther, he switched his allegiance from Lutheran to the Reformed camp, and later became a radical reformer before once again returning to the Reformed tradition. First, he served as one of many Lutheran preachers in Wittenberg. Bodenstein led a life full of travels that did not go beyond the borders of the Holy Roman Empire. He traveled to German-speaking, French-speaking and Italian-speaking lands. By the end of his life, he allied himself with Heinrich Bullinger in Switzerland and worked in Basel, where he eventually died. Despite coming closer to the Reformed tradition by the time of his death, Bodenstein maintained his own distinct understanding on many theological issues throughout much of his life.
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1486 – 24. December 1541
