Sword & Trowel 2017: Issue 1 


such sweeping criticisms; in 1477, they fi nally deposed John from the priesthood, and in 1479 the inquisi- tion put him on trial, accusing him of being a Hussite. John’s great frailty (he was now 79 years old) proved un- equal to the ordeal, and he agreed to renounce his heresies. The authorities burnt all his writings, and sentenced him to imprisonment in the Augustin- ian convent in Mainz, where John died two years later. Third, Wessel Gansfort. Born


at Groningen in the Netherlands, Gansfort was taught in a school at Deventer run by the Brethren of the Common Life, then went on to study in various universities before lecturing in Heidelberg and Paris. Gansfort was a pioneer Renaissance scholar, expert in Greek and Hebrew. In theology, Gansfort was at fi rst a disciple of Thomas Aquinas, but later turned away from Aquinas to Augustine of Hippo as a safer guide. He went back to Groningen in about 1474 to act as spiritual director of a nunnery there, and also in the Mount Saint Agnes monastery (where Thomas à Kempis had lived). Gansfort’s preaching and teaching attracted a wide circle of admirers. Like John of Wesel, he made many probing criticisms of Catholic doctrine – in- deed, many of the same criticisms. He denied the infallibility of the papacy. He rejected indulgences.


Preparations for the execution of Savonarola, 1498


page 32 Seeds of the Reformation


He defi ned the Church as the entire company of believers, not the or- ganisation headed by the papacy. He continued to accept transubstantia- tion and the sacrifi ce of the mass, yet also maintained that Christ’s pres- ence in the bread and wine was for believers only. A strong Augustinian, he upheld salvation by God’s grace alone, and even taught an embryonic idea of justifi cation by faith. Gansfort was more fortunate than John of Wesel in escaping the at- tentions of the inquisition; he died peacefully in his bed. Luther was a great admirer of Gansfort, publishing his writings with a commendatory preface, and asserting: ‘If I had read his books before, my enemies might have thought that Luther had bor- rowed everything from Gansfort, so great is the agreement between our spirits. I feel my joy and my strength increase, and have no doubt that I have taught correctly, when I fi nd that someone who wrote at a differ- ent time, in another land, and with


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