Danny Lovett, president of Tennessee Temple University, resigns

It was his resignation from Liberty Seminary when he went to Temple, that opened the position at Liberty for Caner.

Full Disclosure: My undergrad degree is from TTU

I was at TTU from 1989-1997 (college and seminary). The school got rid of J. Don Jennings and declined; it got rid of Buddy Nichols and declined. When Bouler had the whole ministry, the decline just continued. The oft repeated saying of Lee Roberson was, “Everything rises and falls on leadership.” How does that apply to the leadership of TTU for the last 20 years? And, if Lovett doesn’t have the integrity to lead the university, how does he still have the integrity to pastor the church?

Lovett said:

“I didn’t know copyright laws at the time, and I should have checked more thoroughly.”

Now, Lovett has an undergraduate degree, I suppose a M.Div. and D.Min from Reformed Theological Seminary, yet when his book was published in 1998, he was unsure if copyright laws let him lift a chapter from a book by a man that he supposed was dead? Do you only credit the works of those who are living?

Agreed, Jonathan. Whether the source book was copyrighted or not, or whether the quoted author was alive or not isn’t the root issue. It’s nore an issue of integrity in composition and attribution. That’s just basic writing standards.

Surely, what he did was both wrong and unprofessional. It brings up a wider point, though. Neither the M Div nor the D Min is considered an academic degree. They are professional degrees, designed to prepare men to practice a certain vocation, not to research in a certain fields. So, graduates with these degrees are not scholars, just as people with the JD and MD are not scholars. They are well-educated professionals. The MA and the PhD are the corresponding academic degrees. Notice that his D Min thesis was a devotional entitled Jesus is Awesome. It’s not exactly Life in the Spirit: Trinitarian Grammar and Pneumatic Community in Hegel and Augustine, the title of an in-progress PhD dissertation at Notre Dame.

Most seminary doctoral programs are less rigorous and have lower academic standards than their graduate school counterparts. A ThD from Duke Divinity school is nowhere near as prestigious as a PhD from Duke University. Many people who could easily complete doctoral work at Trinity or Dallas or Westminster wouldn’t even be accepted into a top-tier doctoral program.

So, I’m not defending him, only expressing that I doubt his academic error was much worse than many of his colleagues in DMin programs across the nation.

If he even did one research paper in his M.Div. or D.Min. program, he knows well enough to cite his sources.

Most states do - or at least did when Lovett was in school - require research papers from high school juniors and seniors. Also, even casual perusal of nonfiction books, let alone completing the requirements of practically any higher education program, would force one to be confronted with footnotes and other citations. Lovett himself stated that he felt that he could incorporate an entire chapter into his work because he thought that the work had gone out of print and was public domain. So, someone can be unaware of basic plagiarism rules on one hand knows of the concept of public domain on the other?

“Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” (James 3:1 ESV)

Yes, many who go through grad school may not understand plagarism rules, but it doesn’t really matter. If you choose to write a book (or a blog post or comment, to be fair1*), you’re going to be judged more strictly. That’s just the way it is.

1* http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/marchweb-only/bloggers.html

[JobK] Most states do - or at least did when Lovett was in school - require research papers from high school juniors and seniors. Also, even casual perusal of nonfiction books, let alone completing the requirements of practically any higher education program, would force one to be confronted with footnotes and other citations. Lovett himself stated that he felt that he could incorporate an entire chapter into his work because he thought that the work had gone out of print and was public domain. So, someone can be unaware of basic plagiarism rules on one hand knows of the concept of public domain on the other?

I can’t imagine not knowing that you can’t lift out entire sections of someone else’s work and not credit it properly, public domain or no. Not citing sources allows people to assume that you are the source. It’s a form of misdirection that is alarming.

My husband explained it to the kids like this- if someone walks into the house, and sees that our living room is lined with shelves full of books, they might (and usually do) ask “Have you read all these?” And my husband says “My wife has read some of them twice.” it is a true statement, but it conveys a false notion, and is dishonest at its heart.

If we are truly to be blameless and harmless, we should be more than aboveboard in all our dealings. Plagiarism is a very basic concept covered by most teachers as soon as kids start writing reports for school… which is what- 4th grade? 6th grade?

You know, even if no one ever tells you that the red light means “Stop”, it doesn’t take long for a reasonably intelligent person to figure it out. Ditto plagiarism.

Plagiarism is easier to catch these days. Teachers and publishers run papers and books through online tools that try to catch it. It may be that we’re just hearing about it more because people are catching it.

[Charlie] Surely, what he did was both wrong and unprofessional. It brings up a wider point, though. Neither the M Div nor the D Min is considered an academic degree. They are professional degrees, designed to prepare men to practice a certain vocation, not to research in a certain fields. So, graduates with these degrees are not scholars, just as people with the JD and MD are not scholars.

Charlie, I am not sure how this is relevant. I don’t know of any MDiv or DMin program that would sanction this. The point of a DMin project is different since it doesn’t generally require a unique contribution or some study that will move something forward in the academic/research world. It is generally some type of field research to analyze and solve a problem related to one’s ministry. But the standards for plagiarism are the same.

I am bothered by some of the lightweight things that are done in the name of DMin projects. I am in a DMin (almost finished, and not sure I would do it again if I had it to do over) and have heard what some guys are doing in their projects, and have read others. I just don’t find it significant, even in a ministry setting. Doing sermon series or writing a Bible study program just don’t seem right to me. But not all of them are like that. I hope mine will not be.

But the problem here is not an MDiv or DMin problem.

[Shaynus] If you choose to write a book (or a blog post or comment, to be fair1*), you’re going to be judged more strictly. That’s just the way it is.

I think popular writing such as blogs has a bit of a different standard. Even here at SI we don’t hold a high standard of documentation.

When I quote something on my blog, I rarely give a full bibliographical citation. In fact, some of the stuff I don’t even know exactly where it came from. It is a comment I pick up in reading something or hearing something, and I attribute it as much as I can. Sometimes a link; sometimes a title and page number; sometimes a “So and So said.” I try not to post stuff that I don’t have any idea where it came from. It is generally stuff I could find if I had to, or wanted to take the time to.

For instance, I could say something like, “Darrin Patrick said that he thinks a lot of young preachers are going to regret some of the language that they have used in the pulpit in the years to come.” Now, I know roughly where that came from (A29 boot camp in 2006). I don’t know exactly. In an article or a dissertation, I would have to go find it and give it proper documentation. But I doubt anyone here will question my integrity because I don’t give the documentation here.

I don’t think people expect blogs to have the kind of documentation that dissertations, books, and articles do. I do think we should have high levels of integrity. I don’t think that requires equal kinds of documentation in all things. Perhaps you agree with me on this.

I agree, Bro. Larry, that there is a difference between the standards and expectations of formal vs casual communication. Many blogs fall under the category of casual conversation, but although in written form, I tend to think of blogs and forums as a form of public speaking.

[Larry] I think popular writing such as blogs has a bit of a different standard. Even here at SI we don’t hold a high standard of documentation.

Larry,

I was just being a little cheeky there with my citation.

The point is that in general, those who publicly put forward their views are going to be judged more strictly than those who don’t. The standard shouldn’t be whether they’re in an academic Ph. D. or a D. Min. program. If someone choose to write a book, they are also then choosing to open their book to the same standards of writing that everyone else does. So yes, by commonly accepted standards, blogs need less citation, I do think it would be a good practice that if any of us brings up a fact that could be controversial, we should do our best to (even informally) source it. I guess the tough part would be in figuring out which facts could be controversial.

Shayne

Thanks Shayne, I agree with that.