Johannes von Goch

Johannes von Goch (born Johann Pupper) ( – 1475) was a German Augustinian friar, thought by some to be a precursor of the Reformation, because of his views on scripture, justification and monasticism.

Biography He was born at Goch in the Rhineland, probably studied at Paris, and was the founder of an order of canonesses at Tabor, near Mechelen in Brabant, in 1451, of which he subsequently became prior.

Theology He may in some respects be considered a precursor of the Reformation, and in his writings, De Libertate Christiana, De Quatuor Erroribus circa Legem Evangelicam, and Epistola Apologetica (1521), he attacks the influence of Pelagianism in the Church, and advocates a return to the text of the Bible as the only true source of religious truth. He was considered a man of profound piety. Johann Pupper said that the "writings of the church fathers only have authority to the extent that they conform to the canonical truth".