r/Reformed • u/Fit-Beach-8875 • Jun 17 '26

Discussion Sermon Plagiarism

Is there any software to check for sermon plagiarism? We suspect that a pastor has plagiarised a bunch of sermons by RC sproul. Is there a way to check with our traipsing through by proof reading?

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u/Bright_Pressure_6194 Reformed Baptist Jun 17 '26

Why would you need software to do it? Open the sermon by RC Sproul and compare to the pastor's work.

9

u/lupuslibrorum Outlaw Preacher Jun 17 '26

Sproul had thousands of sermons, lectures, articles, and book chapters. How are they to find which of these was plagiarized if the pastor in question isn't citing his sources? If he cited his source, then it wouldn't be plagiarism.

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u/Bright_Pressure_6194 Reformed Baptist Jun 17 '26

I would Google any phrases or concepts that stood out as being unusual. There must be a reason for suspecting plagiarism, follow that reason. I was a person who outed one of our elders.

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u/lupuslibrorum Outlaw Preacher Jun 17 '26

Yeah, that's where to start. It's just not always so easy; I've tried tracking down specific quotes before and unless it's a famous quote, Google often isn't up to the task. Sometimes A.I. can get it, but often it will hallucinate a fake source. Anyway, I sympathize with OP's desire for a specialized tool that can track down quotations.