At the start of his session on Worldview Preaching, Andrew Heard made a passing comment about how Christians shouldn't worry about plagiarism. It is, Andrew claimed, only when the minister is intending to make a PROFIT from the plagiarism that it is a problem.
I strongly disgree, for a bunch of reasons:
- Plagiarism is a form of dishonesty or at least a misleading communication to my audience. When I listen to someone teach, or use some of their resources, I rightly assume it is their own original work, unless told otherwise. For those who are seek to speak the gospel of truth with honesty, this is not on.
- Plagiarism fails to honour the work of the original author. We may not be seeking to make money off it, but they might be. And if we use it without permission, we are undercutting their attempts to resource and promote their ministry. And even if they don't want to make money off it AND we don't want to make money off it, it is still their idea. Proper referencing honours the work of others. They may not care. We may think that 'gospel minded people' SHOULDN'T care. But this falls into the category of 1Corinthians 9 – it is their freedom in Christ not to use that right, not for us to decide on their behalf.
- Plagiarism cuts the ties with previous learning. If we don't reference where we get things from, we cut people's access to previous thinking and learning. A culture of poor referencing creates a culture cut off from past learning. It also cuts of off from previous expression and interaction with ideas. What if the teacher badly appropriated the idea? How can we get access to previous critiques of the idea?
- Over time plagiarism creates a culture of laziness. Intellectual laziness that doesn't do original work. Spiritual laziness, that doesn't dwell regularly on the word of God. Practical laziness that can't be bothered chasing up references.
- Plagiarism subtly distorts the role of the minister of the gospel. We are not just communicators. We are people who through humble submission to the word of God, correctly understand it and then communicate it to those with whom we are in loving relationship. Too much reliance on modern forms of plagiarism or even things like pre-written homilies, is corrosive to healthy pastorial ministry in the long run.
Given all these things, why not simply acknowledge where ideas and content has come from?
A couple of caveats:
Now none of this clarifies when plagiarism becomes plagiarism. This will differ depending on the mode and context of communciation. A lecture or article is different to a sermon or a blog post.
Also we need to think through a suitable way to reference. A sermon doesn't need detailed footnotes on the powerpoint. Perhaps doesn't even need to state the exact name – a 'someone said' might suffice.
