The 1519 Leipzig Disputation was a formal scholarly debate between the Roman Catholic theologian Johannes Eck, and the Wittenberg theologians Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt and Martin Luther. The five-hundredth anniversary of that debate prompted the publication of this book, which includes essays from an earlier publication.

The earlier volume was the result of work on the disputation that was presented in Leipzig in 2009. Essays from that meeting were published in a 2011 collection entitled Die Leipziger Disputation 1519, I: Leipziger Arbeitsgespäch zur Reformation. In her review of that book, Amy Nelson Burnett concluded that the volume adequately summarised the state of existing scholarship, but she also pointed to the absence of an essay on Karlstadt's role in the debate, while hoping for new research at the five-hundredth anniversary of the debate (Sixteenth Century Journal xliv/2 [2013], 624–5). The 2019 volume addresses her concerns by adding two new essays to the earlier work – important given that the 2011 volume is no longer in print.

One new essay included in this 2019 book is by Irene Dingel and focuses on the debate itself, terming it a historical milestone (p. 24). The debate marked a paradigm shift in disputation methods, with Eck's late-medieval technical elements of argumentation going head-to-head with Luther's appeal to Scripture as authority for truth claims.

Works from the earlier edition follow, including essays by Armin Kohnle, Markus Hein, Christian Winter, Thomas Noack, Enno Bünz, Heiko Jadatz and Helmar Junghans.

Perhaps the most significant addition to the earlier volume is Stephani Salvadori's essay on the role of Karlstadt in defending the theology put forward by the faculty in Wittenberg. This essay uses material from the 2017 critical edition of Karlstadt's writings and letters, and thereby updates the material in this new edition.

The book closes with more essays from the earlier volume, including works by Johann Peter Wurm, Markus Cottin, Volker Leppin, Michael Beyer, Christoph Volkmar, Doreen Zerbe and Christoph Münchow,

As this edition republishes work first presented in 2009, much of the scholarship is dated. Still, the contributions of Dingel and Salvadori are important additions, adding support to understanding the critical importance of this event for shaping the Reformation.