Why pastors should plagiarize in their sermons

Last updated on: November 10, 2011 at 2:41 pm by Bradley Wright

Why pastors should plagiarize in their sermons 2011-11-10T14:41:06-05:00 Bradley Wright

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I’ve been thinking about the differences between classroom teaching and pulpit preaching.

When I teach, I use the work of many scholars to help students understand the material, with proper citation of course. Yes, I give my own ideas and analyses (and probably more than I need), but the the core of my material is the work of others. If I had to present *only* my own ideas, the class would be about an hour or two long, and then I’d have to call it for the semester.

In contrast, there seems to be a norm among pastors that all sermons have to be original in idea and expression. The problem is that this is very hard to do; I know I couldn’t produce an original, useful 20-30 talk every week. So, a lot of sermons aren’t really that good.

This leads me to wonder why pastors do not more frequently base their sermons on the work of others. Presumably pastors know the best books about Christian faith & practice, and, with their theological training, pastors are in a better place to understand & explain the ideas of others. Why not take a book, for example, that has had a broad impact and walk their congregation though it over several sermons. Or, why not adapt a sermon on someone else’s sermon? Why not show video series?

To be clear, the pastor would need to clearly indicate the source of the material; otherwise it is plagiarism. (Okay, the title of this post isn’t quite accurate, but it’s catchy, no?). I’m advocating using others’ ideas with full acknowledgement.

Pastors almost seem to feel guilty about using the ideas of others–as if somehow they are avoiding their pastoral responsibility. To the contrary, I think that they would both give better sermons and have more time and energy for the many other responsibilities of pastoring if they more frequently summarized and illustrated the ideas of others for their sermons.

Thoughts?

Brad Wright

church practices

Previous Post

November 7, 2011

Whatever Happened to "Unequally Yoked"?

Next Post

November 9, 2011 Civil Religion in America Then and Now

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Amy Reynolds Becky Hsu Brad Wright critical realism George Yancey Gerardo Marti Jeremy Rhodes Jerry Park John Schmalzbauer Margarita Mooney Mark Regnerus Nicolette Manglos positive sociology Richard Flory Robert Woodberry Uncategorized

Select a Month April 2017 August 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz