Setting the record straight

[gbausc]

Shlama l'kown b'Shema,

I have posted the rules and definitions of plagiarism before, though they may have gotten lost
by a moderator's deletion of one of my posts, so here it is again, from turnitin.com - a web site which specializes on the subject and has software that tests documents for plagiarism:

Plagiarism FAQ
...11. What is the "public domain?"
Works that are no longer protected by copyright, or never have been, are considered "public domain." This means that you may freely borrow material from these works without fear of plagiarism, provided you make proper attributions....

(EDITED BY MODERATOR)

BTW, Lamsa's 1933 publication copyright expired last year. It is now public domain. One can find his files for his translation on the internet for the entire Bible and download them free of charge.

Anyone translating holy scripture should hold himself/herself to the highest of ethical and moral standards of accountability, and should be held to those high standards by potential readers of that translation. Complete honesty and openness is essential to the translator, so that there can be no question as to the nature of the work. All sources will be thoroughly cited and credited as such. If the work is a revision of another translation, that should be stated clearly in the title and in the preface, with a detailed explanation of the basic reason for the revision and how it differs from the source text.

Even when proper attribution is given to the sources, the copied material should not be too copious (a majority of the new work), as stated above, or the author may be charged with plagiarism.

The author of a Bible translation cannot be too careful in this matter; easily he or she can be caught up in the temptation to get a book published as quickly as possible and take unethical shortcuts in the process.

It is irrelevant if "I posted this about my sources", or "I got permission from so and so", when considering whether a work is plagiarized. Plagiarism is not necessarily copyright infringement.
Plagiarism is copying someone else's words, music or artistic material (intellectual property) and presenting them as one's own. The book itself should include proper attribution to the authors whose work is used: "This book is a substantial revision of such and such text written by so and so in such and such places."
In other words, the potential customer as well as the actual customer should know what the nature of the book is, especially in the case of a translation of scripture.
Is it a fresh translation, or is it a revision of another translation?
This must be plainly stated up front.

I did not make up the rules above quoted, and when we think clearly about this, common sense
dictates that these standards are essential.

If I were to take George Lamsa's or John Wesley Etheridge's translation (each of which is now public domain) and simply republish it with my name on it, would that be ethical?

Let our definitions and standards be complete and high; at least as high as the secular world's
standards; certainly not lower. We cannot afford or tolerate sloppiness in attitude or method; nor would we see what we can get away with. Our standard must honor and please the true Author of scripture, and reflect the excellence of The Most High. Less than than can only bring us shame, and displeasure to Him.


Dave Bauscher