Tyndale rejects the claims that Mark Driscoll tried to take Peter Jones’s ideas and claim them as his own. Moreover, at Pastor Driscoll’s invitation, Peter Jones has written on the Resurgence website, and spoken at a Resurgence event, as well as a Mars Hill workshop. Quite the opposite of trying to take Peter Jones’s ideas, Mark Driscoll has provided several opportunities for Peter Jones to publicly express his ideas to a large audience.

Today, Tyndale House Publishers released the conclusions of a three-week investigation into allegations of plagiarism against Seattle megapastor Mark Driscoll that drew widespread attention. In the same public statement (copied below in full), Driscoll addresses the controversy for the first time.

“After taking the necessary and important time needed to investigate all aspects of this issue, Tyndale House Publishers has concluded the following,” the publisherstates. “Pertaining to his Tyndale book, A Call to Resurgence, Tyndale believes that Mark Driscoll did indeed adequately cite the work of Peter Jones. … Tyndale rejects the claims that Mark Driscoll tried to take Peter Jones’s ideas and claim them as his own.”

Regarding a 1 Peter and 2 Peter study guide that InterVarsity Press told CT did not qualify as fair use, Driscoll states: “The error was unintentional, but serious nonetheless. I take responsibility for all of this. In order to make things right, we’ve contacted the publisher of the works used in the study guide, offered an apology, and agreed to work with them to resolve any issues they had.”

“Mistakes were made that I am grieved by and apologize for,” states Driscoll. “As a Bible teacher, I know that Jesus loves us and uses everything for good. I know he cares very much that we do things in a way that reflects his glory. As a result, I have been praying that he would help me learn through all of this to become more like him and more effective for him.”

“Because of the biblical manner in which Pastor Driscoll has handled this situation, Tyndale strongly stands behind him and looks forward to publishing many additional books with him,” states Ron Beers, senior vice president and group publisher for Tyndale.

CT’s Andy Crouch recently weighed in on “the real problem with Mark Driscoll’s ‘citation errors’—and it isn’t plagiarism.”

CT’s previous coverage of plagiarism includes plagiarism accusations faced byRichard Land during the Trayvon Martin case. Land lost his radio show over his comments, and later announced his retirement as president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.

CT has also reported on how plagiarism among pastors helped spark a new code of ethics from the National Association of Evangelicals, as well as how a former Bush aide repented after his 2008 plagiarism scandal.

Here is the complete statement from Tyndale and Driscoll:

Read More