His German surname was Hussgen (or Heussgen, Huszgen), which he etymologized to Hausschein ("house-shine") and graecized (as was the custom at the time) to Οἰκολαμπάδιος[a](Oikolampádios, from οἶκος oîkos, "house," and λαμπάς lampás, "torch, lamp", and -ιος, -ios, "pertaining to"; this was then Latinised as Oecolampadius).

[4] In February 1522 he made his way to Ebernburg, near Creuznach, where he acted as chaplain to a little group of men holding the new opinions who had settled there under the leadership of Franz von Sickingen.

Lecturing on Isaiah, he condemned current ecclesiastical abuses, and in a public disputation (20 August 1523) gained such success that Erasmus writing to Zürich said, "Oecolampadius has the upper hand amongst us."

Basel was slow to accept the Reformation; the news of the Peasants' War of 1524-1525 and the inroads of Anabaptists prevented progress; but by 1525 it seemed as if the authorities were resolved to listen to schemes for restoring the purity of worship and teaching.

In the midst of these hopes and difficulties Oecolampadius married, in the beginning of 1528, Wibrandis Rosenblatt, the widow of Ludwig Keller, who proved a suitable wife.

[5] In January 1528 Oecolampadius and Zwingli took part in the Bern Disputation which led to the adoption of the new faith in that canton, and in the following year to the discontinuance of the Mass at Basel.

He was respected even among Catholic scholars of his time and was quoted over forty years after his death by the Jesuit St. Peter Canisius in his work De Maria Virgine.

His views on the Eucharist upheld the metaphorical against the literal interpretation of the word "body," but he asserted that believers partook of the sacrament more for the sake of others than for their own, though later he emphasized it as a means of grace for the Christian life.

[8] Oecolampadius borrowed from Radulfus Ardens (d. 1200) and others the image of Mary as the neck who mediates all graces of Christ (the Head) to his mystical body, the church.

This view was defended in the 20th century by Gabriel Roschini, and more generally, by Pope Pius XII in his encyclical Mystici corporis as official doctrine of the Catholic Church.

He is also critical of popular customs, by which every Saturday is solemnly observed in her honour, with abstinence from wine and sexual relations, while the following Lord’s day is characterized by heavy drinking and varied entertainments.