Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 7
The speaker argues the fight wasn’t just imagined: Goshen professors used modernist texts, and J.B. Smith circulated postcards of a Goshen student play to alarm ministers; how should a church discern whether a perceived “menace” is real without sliding into propaganda tactics, and what would a godly response look like when truth and alarm get intertwined?
Another way to ask: How can a church tell whether a new teaching is a real danger without using fear tactics or propaganda? What does a godly response look like when true concerns get mixed with alarm and rumors?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
The transcript supports discerning carefully by investigating facts (as Nate Yoder did regarding modernist texts), while recognizing that alarm-driven tactics—like mass-mailing inflammatory images—can manipulate rather than shepherd. A godly response would face real errors honestly, but avoid escalating fear or using shame as the main tool.
- The speaker says older scholars “pooh-poohed” the concern, but Nate Yoder showed “there actually was modernism at Goshen,” including professors “using modernist texts… in Bible classes and theology classes.”
- He describes J.B. Smith obtaining a photo of a student play, making “postcards,” and mailing them to ministers: “See what is happening at Goshen College.”
- He notes the play would have “horrified” ministers, showing the mailing was meant to provoke reaction.
- He explains concerns were “woven together”: theological liberalism plus contested “non-conformity” practices.
- He shows an alternative approach existed: Virginia appointed a “committee… to further investigate the menace of liberalism,” indicating investigation rather than rumor alone.