Talk Show Host Adds to Plagiarism Charge Against Mark Driscoll, Tyndale Responds

Religion News Service’s Jonathan Merritt continues to follow the allegations of talk show host Janet Mefferd — reported here last week — that author and pastor Mark Driscoll has plagiarized large sections of other books. There’s a saying in academic life that copying from one source is plagiarism; copying from two sources is research. But in fact, you can copy from one source if you want to as long as you cite your source; as long as you give proper attribution.

Mefferd has uncovered further examples, and posted the texts on a 27-page .pdf document. This really stretches the need for us to use the term “alleged” because,

1. Some of the text excerpts she presents are word-for-word, and
2. There is a complete absence of footnotes

Mefferd however takes this one step further and alleges a desire to suppress the story on the part of Driscoll’s publishers — Tyndale and Crossway — and/or make her (Mefferd) look like the bad guy. On her show, she suggests the companies are putting profits over principles. You can listen to her radio show here. (Select 11.26.13 and choose hour #2)

Here is some of Merritt’s newest article, you can read it in full here.

Syndicated radio host Janet Mefferd sent shockwaves throughout social media when she accused megachurch pastor Mark Driscoll of plagiarism in a heated on-air exchange last week. In the last two days, however, Mefferd has turned up the heat with additional allegations. On Tuesday, she posted photocopied evidence that Driscoll borrowed material — this time, word for word — in another of his books, Trial: 8 Witnesses From 1&2 Peter. As Mefferd’s evidence demonstrates, Driscoll published several sections from D.A. Carson’s New Bible Commentary without proper citation.

Mefferd struck again on Wednesday, providing two additional allegations of plagiarism— both taken word-for-word from Carson’s New Bible Commentary and published in Driscoll’s book on 1&2 Peter. Carson has said that preachers who plagiarize are “stealing” and “deceiving.” Requests for a comment sent to the office of D.A. Carson were not immediately returned.

Last week, Mefferd claimed Driscoll plagiarized Dr. Peter Jones for at least 14 pages in his book, A Call to Resurgence. She has since released documentation in an effort to support these claims.

[click the above link to continue reading]

Meanwhile, a post on the blog Spiritual Sounding Board reprinted a comment on Janet Mefferd’s site from a reader which purports to be a response from ‘Customer Service’ at Tyndale issued on Wednesday.  It reads,

…Tyndale House takes any accusation of plagiarism seriously and has therefore conducted a thorough in-house review of the original material and sources provided by the author. After this review we feel confident that the content in question has been properly cited in the printed book and conforms to market standards. 

I must confess having a hard time reconciling this statement with the material Mefferd’s .pdf file posting seems to clearly indicate. Mefferd’s radio show suggests that Tyndale has launched a “Resurgence” brand, therefore they have more at stake here than just the one title.  Mefferd also attempted to get a response from Crossway, Driscoll’s other primary publisher, without success.

For further background on this story check the investigative blog, The Wartburg Watch.