Featured Attn: Pastors

I do not understand this attack on preachers for doing what has been traditionally done since the beginning. It is a good thing Paul did not call the epistles "mine" and get offended if others used them in any way they thought might be for good. I have seen books that are called "sermon outlines". I know that some professors expected their students to use the course notes as sermon outlines.

Secular definitions of plagiarism have no place in the church. The church is not a for-profit publisher or private university. Its mission is not pride or profit.

This topic is making me sick this week. I am studying academic writing, and instead of professors and websites teaching students to write, they spend 3/4 of lessons on citation and plagiarism, and much of the remaining time and resources on formatting the paper in software. Of course those young preachers can't preach! Look what they spent all their seminary time on!

 

To your last paragraph, it is unfortunate how many people will purchase a paper rather than do their own research. Since there are now companies offering to help cheat, for a price, it has become a necessary evil to teach people how to cite their sources and meet academic standards.
Hopefully, those who love to write will continue on their own without the pull of academia to distract them.

To your first paragraph, I agree that the work of others can be very helpful. But, those writings should come after we have done the hard work of observation, questioning and answering those questions ourselves. Once we do our own work, we can consult the experts and see how they answered their observations. When we find that others have a particularly good insight, we should use it and let others know about where we found it.

 

Scripture seems to show that acknowledging your source at least in a general sense is a proper practice:

Titus 1:12 One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. 13 This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith;

Paul could have just said, "The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. 13 This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith;" and left out the information about his using a source, but he did not do that.

 

Six years ago I took a community college English Composition class for personal enrichment. A large percent of our final grade rested on a research paper. The professor took great pains to inform us that our papers would be scanned into a database which would check for originality and would also put our work into the database to check future submissions for plagiarism. Going from memory this is one of the reasons why style and format is so important, to allow the database to scan the work.

This weighed heavy on my decision on the topic I choose for my paper. I picked one that I was fairly certain was uncharted. My paper was heavy with footnotes. While I drew conclusions that were of my own opinion, it was based on the work of others, it has to be.

Still, I personally want my pastor to preach that which the Lord has laid on his heart, not what the Lord has laid on someone else's heart. Citing others is one thing, repeating word for word with no credit is another.

Having said that I'm not convinced that being a good preacher is a necessary skill for an administrator or executive officer of a company or in this case a convention of local churches. I do see honesty and integrity as necessary though. The owner of my company has a good business sense and administrative skills but not a full understanding of the technical aspects of our product. Sometimes, engineers (and in this case theologians) can get lost in the fog of the details.

 

I would shy away from comparing the church to a company. The local church should never be run like a corporate entity and it's elders should never view their role as a board member of a corporation. Such behavior will short change the flock.

 

Two more passages that I think establish the need to give credit when using original materials from other sources:

1 Samuel 24:13 As saith the proverb of the ancients, Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked: but mine hand shall not be upon thee.

Acts 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

Adding what these passages show to Titus 1:12 (which I shared earlier) seems clearly to me to make this point.

Titus 1:12 One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.

It is instructive that no one is specifically credited by name in any of these 3 passages but credit is still given.

 

many times, we are indeed building upon the foundation others laid in the Body for us to learn and teach with!

 

Any time we knowingly quote or use another teaching or words, should we not acknowledge them?