The New International Encyclopædia/Goch, Johannes von

GOCH, gṓG, Johannes von (properly Johann Pupper) (c.1400-75). A German Augustinian monk. He was born at Goch, Prussia, probably studied at Paris, and was the founder of an Order of Canonesses at Tabor, near Mechlin, Flanders, in 1451, of which he subsequently became prior. 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, and as a theologian was unexcelled in his day.