Pastoral plagiarism

Christian Century, Jan 9, 2007

PASTORAL PLAGIARISM: Pastors using the sermons of other preachers without attribution isn't new. What is new is the widespread availability of sermons on the Internet--some for free, others for sale. One Web site posted an essay by Steve Sjogren in which he argued that pastors don't need to be original, they just need to be effective.

The trend in clerical plagiarism may stem in part from the need many pastors feel to be entertaining in the pulpit. The key issue here is integrity, says Ray Van Neste, a professor at Union University in Tennessee. Many congregants feel betrayed when they discover that their pastor has been using material from other sources without attribution (Wall Street Journal, November 15).