when you posted the quote did you actually use quotation marks (” “) to at least indicate you were quoting someone else?

I steal a lot of quotes/sayings/phrases I’ve heard in the past but can’t remember where I heard them. However, it is pretty easy to indicate you aren’t the originator of the phrase with quotation marks. Or a simple prefix of “I heard this somewhere…”

Just don’t take credit for stuff that you know isn’t yours. If you heard it somewhere else but you don’t know who said it, then attribute it to unknown or lead with I heard this from somewhere and… (e.g., the sermon anecdote)

The main thing is to source when you know it and say when you don’t. Accidents happen all the time and mistakes can easily be made. If you use something and you really thought you made it up but later find out someone else used it first, then just say so. This guy and so many other Christian “influencers” try to hide it or take credit knowingly for other people’s work.

Just don’t take credit for stuff that you know isn’t yours. If you heard it somewhere else but you don’t know who said it, then attribute it to unknown or lead with I heard this from somewhere and… (e.g., the sermon anecdote)

The main thing is to source when you know it and say when you don’t. Accidents happen all the time and mistakes can easily be made. If you use something and you really thought you made it up but later find out someone else used it first, then just say so. This guy and so many other Christian “influencers” try to hide it or take credit knowingly for other people’s work.

I didn’t think to attribute it or attempt to find its origin. I just thought it was funny and I tweeted it out to my paltry dozens of followers. Am I plagiarizing? If I reached a degree of fame or notoriety, would a blogger have a case to accuse me of some kind of misconduct?

And what if I tell a joke or an anecdote in a sermon — one that I’ve heard, but don’t exactly know where?

I’m not trying to be obtuse; I know that these are not the exact same situations, but I wonder where the lines lie. Are aphorisms and jokes fair game? Memes? Pithy sayings that can’t be exactly attributed? This all seems especially willowy when it comes to social media, especially for us non-verified social media peons. I’m open to perspectives on this…

Until recently, the [Partridge’s] site included a quote promoting Partridge’s “Real Christianity” book that was attributed to Richard Jennings of Dallas Theological Seminary.

However, a spokesman for Dallas Theological Seminary said the school has no record of a faculty member, student or staff member by that name.

On a recent episode of the “Real Christianity” podcast, Partridge’s wife, Veronica Partridge, read the endorsement aloud, this time citing its author as Richard Davis.

Dale Partridge told RNS that as far as he is aware, Davis does not exist either. The quote praising the book, he said, was a “mock quote” used during the design of the store on the Relearn Church website.

He and Driscoll, thick as thieves. Oh wait, they are thieves.

Does Partidge have a college degree? If so, academic study would have made him aware of standard conventions in written discourse.

I have a lot of cynicism about it (as I do a lot of things these days) because repeated exposure of David Barton seems to have had little deterrent or substantive effect. Fracturing idols is not for the impatient.

But plagiarism is theft. And thieves should be exposed.