[2] After the war he returned to his ministry in Gebersheim, and he stayed there until he quit the Church in 1953 to become a full-time writer;[2] from then on he preached twice a month.
He campaigned against the rearmament of Germany by, for example, adding his signature to the 'German Manifesto' of the Paul's Church Movement (along with, among others, Gustav Heinemann).
The novel Das Brandopfer (The Burnt Offering) examined the Holocaust during the Third Reich from the perspective of an ordinary butcher's wife, who eventually tries to find justice by sacrificing herself.
The book, written in simple language, is considered a significant contribution to the dialogue and reconciliation between Jews and Christians in the post-Third Reich era.
Unruhige Nacht was translated into English as Arrow to the Heart and adapted for broadcast by BBC Television in the United Kingdom in 1952.
Goes's work is often compared with that of Albrecht Haushofer, Reinhold Schneider, Rudolf Alexander Schröder and Gertrud von Le Fort.