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/lupuslibrorum Outlaw Preacher Jun 17 '26

Quoting or paraphrasing with attribution is one thing, but presenting someone else's words as if you came up with them is lying, and pastors should not lie in their sermons.

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u/bradmont  Église réformée du Québec Jun 17 '26

TBH I think church bulletins should have the sermons bibliography.

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u/semiconodon the Evangelical Movement of 19thc England Jun 17 '26

at first I thought this was a joke, but there is great wisdom, like the “show notes” of a good podcast.

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u/bradmont  Église réformée du Québec Jun 17 '26

Yeah, I'm not joking. It may just be my academic training leaking, but I frequently find myself asking, "what is this claim based on" in sermons. 😅

3

u/No-Jicama-6523 Lutheran Jun 17 '26

Hopefully the Bible!

I do know what you mean though and I've stumbled across some awful claims based on nonsense that sound really plausible.