Plagiarized!

There is a particular post on this blog that has generated a lot of hits over the last 3 years. It is a paper I wrote in my first semester in seminary. Last week, I did a Google search with some key words from the title. What I found shocked me.

I found someone's masters thesis, published by their university with a similar theme. I opened the pdf and did a word search for some unique words I'd used in my paper. I found several passages in the paper paraphrased from my earlier paper. I also found several passages taken word-for-word from my paper. I could not believe it.

Here's an example.

My Paper:

Upon his assuming the throne after laying siege to Jerusalem, Herod began his systematic depoliticization of the Temple almost immediately. In seeking to remove political power from the Temple, Herod first looked to remove power from the office of the High Priest. He did so by appointing a series of weak priests, mostly from the Diaspora. He first appointed an old friend from the Babylonian Diaspora named Hananel. Hananel came from a priestly family, but not from the line of the high priesthood. In doing so, Herod installed a high Priest he knew he could control. “One of Herod’s principal measures was to make the Temple and the high priesthood a tool of his own rule” (Horsley 116). Herod feared that a prominent High Priest would somehow diminish his own power.

His paper:

After laying siege to Jerusalem and assuming the throne, Herod began his systematic weakening of Temple institutions almost immediately. Herod first looked to weaken the office of the native Hasmonean High Priesthood. He accomplished this by appointing a series of weak priests, mostly from the Diaspora. First, he appointed an old friend from the Babylonian Diaspora named Hananel. Hananel came from a priestly family, but not from the direct line of the High Priest. In doing so, Herod installed a High Priest he knew he could control: “One of Herod’s principal measures was to make the Temple and the high priesthood a tool of his own rule.”227 Herod feared that a prominent native High Priest would undermine his own power, potentially resulting in destabilizing riots.

Really dude? Really?

I wasn't sure exactly how to feel about it. Honored? Appalled? Violated? Complimented? I wrestled with those feelings for the better part of a day. the more I thought about it, the angrier I got. Then the question became: What do I do about it?

I wrestled with that question. Could I even do anything? His paper was published in 2012. He certainly has received the MA for which the paper was written. I could report it to the university that published the thesis. But did I really want to ruin a guys career over my own ego? Or was it even ego...

Later that day, I emailed one of my professors to ask his opinion. In short, I am pursuing what I need to do to report this to his (probably former) university. We'll see what happens.

As a result, I am much more leery of posting stuff online. I am taking down some other things I have posted and editing others. I don't want to encourage plagiarism. 

I'll leave you with this: Don't steal. Intellectual property is still property.