For another, Eck and Luther had a number of ugly written exchanges in which Luther accused Eck of being interested not in truth but in flagrant showboating. He called him “a prankster and a sophist,”5 and it is clear that he had been hurt by his former friend’s vicious attacks. Eck fired back by saying that anyone who attacked the beloved church could be no friend, that his first responsibility was to defend the church.
