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Eerdmans Statement on Three New Testament Commentaries


Daniel  Francis

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http://www.eerdmans.com/Pages/Item/59043/Commentary-Statement.aspx

 

Seeing this will eventually affect some offerings that Accordance has I thought I would point out this sad news.... Not sure if it is too late or not but anyone wanting Pillar New Testament Commentary or New International Greek Testament Commentary might grab up the O'Brien commentaries at least  before they are gone.

 

The author, Peter T. O'Brien, was presented with the findings and provided the following response: "In the New Testament commentaries that I have written, although I have never deliberately misused the work of others, nevertheless I now see that my work processes at times have been faulty and have generated clear-cut, but unintentional, plagiarism. For this I apologize without reservation."   

 

His works are pretty good if flawed by this unintended plagiarism.

 

-Dan

EDIT: The individual volumes already appear to have been pulled but still appearing in the sets but guessing that is a very limited time thing.

Edited by Dan Francis
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This is all new and we don’t have official instructions from Eerdmans yet. However, our plan is to reissue the sets (Pillar and NIGTC) without the volumes that were withdrawn, but with different file names so they will not replace the current sets. Those who bought the Accordance volumes will be able to keep them (in our opinion) but also get a free upgrade to the new sets with any ongoing corrections.

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We, or, at least, I want to definitely keep the old volumes by O'Brien. I don't know what to say about the plagiarism issue, but as presently constructed, his are some of the best commentaries on these particular books.

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Well no one is going to take away your books... you just will not be able to buy them after a while..

 

-Dan

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While he appears to have made some unintentional plagiarism, the books are still valuable as commentaries.

 

Just in case Accordance ends up being unable to distribute the volumes I would say it's a good idea to back then up.

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Wow, this is a shock, and I only picked up the 16 volume Pillar set on Monday in the last sale...

 

How can I back up the two O'Brien commentaries or Pillar NTC-16? Then if I install Accordance onto another PC or even a MAC in the future will I still be able to auto-install the Pillar NTC-16 set I currently have or will this be pulled from the My Products listing? I don't want to lose the two volumes before even having a chance to use them...

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Wow, this is a shock, and I only picked up the 16 volume Pillar set on Monday in the last sale...

 

How can I back up the two O'Brien commentaries or Pillar NTC-16? Then if I install Accordance onto another PC or even a MAC in the future will I still be able to auto-install the Pillar NTC-16 set I currently have or will this be pulled from the My Products listing? I don't want to lose the two volumes before even having a chance to use them...

 

The modules themselves are stored in your filesystem.

 

On mac, they are at: ~/Library/Application Support/Accordance/Modules/Tools/Pillar NTC3.atool

Not sure the file path on PC, but I'm sure it's something similar.

 

You can back up any of the files you want to preserve in their current state.

 

I'm not 100% on the process for getting the files back into accordance off the top of my head. I can't remember if you just need to throw it into the folder, or if you have to open the file itself, or what.

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The new modules will have new names and won't replace your old modules. 

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The new modules will have new names and won't replace your old modules. 

 

Like Mark said, you are not at risk of losing your current volumes. We will release new sets that do not include those volumes and users who currently own the O'Brien volumes will be offered a free upgrade to the new sets so that they do not miss out on any future updates. The old product will not be removed from any user account.

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Like Mark said, you are not at risk of losing your current volumes. We will release new sets that do not include those volumes and users who currently own the O'Brien volumes will be offered a free upgrade to the new sets so that they do not miss out on any future updates. The old product will not be removed from any user account.

 

Thanks Julie, Mark and tmykkanen,

 

So there's no need to manually back up the content, this is good to know!

 

Hopefully Eerdmans and O'Brien will be able to correct the issue, by offering revised volumes with proper citations where needed. It would be a shame if these volumes were lost for good.

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I am glad to hear that the old volumes by O'Brien will not be replaced. I wish that was the case with the ESV, which has now been replaced by the ESV Permanent Text Edition on my computer. The ESV was first published in 2001, with updates in 2007, 2011, and now 2016. I teach a class in How We Got Our Bible, and it would have been nice to keep a record of the older texts.

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Like Mark said, you are not at risk of losing your current volumes. We will release new sets that do not include those volumes and users who currently own the O'Brien volumes will be offered a free upgrade to the new sets so that they do not miss out on any future updates. The old product will not be removed from any user account.

 

 

Julie and Mark,

 

How will this be handled on reinstalls at a later date? I.E. will the current version still be available for download if I purchase a new computer and install accordance on that computer? If not, then we should still back up the current module file.

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Julie and Mark,

 

How will this be handled on reinstalls at a later date? I.E. will the current version still be available for download if I purchase a new computer and install accordance on that computer? If not, then we should still back up the current module file.

 

If you choose to add the upgrade to the new version, both versions would be in your account and both versions would be available to you at anytime.

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Right now I have updated Word Biblical Commentary,  and original editions I have chosen to have only the updated one installed but still have access to the original to install if I wanted. I would guess this is going to be the case with Pillar. Also not one I own but already Accordance was forced to remove Anchor's Mathew volume due to some type of rights issue. People have the option to keep the original release with it and the updated one in their library. The situation will be less than ideal but Accordance has always made sure people do not lose access to resources they have purchased... ideally the older works no longer legal would be excised and offered in their own individual files but legally I can see how this might be a problem. Thankfully Accordance has given a good if not ideal option for having the works updated (corrections, volumes added, etc) and maintaining access to works that are no longer sold.

 

-Dan

Edited by Dan Francis
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I don't know the full details but I would have thought the publisher could recall all unsold copies and glue an erratum/correction inside the front of the book, then rerelease them for sale. With digital versions it is even easier.

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I'm guessing the print-run on hardcover Bible commentaries probably doesn't exactly reach the sky, either.

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The Eerdman's statement also said at the end, among the steps that they would take: "Offering credit to individuals and trade partners who have purchased the above three volumes." Does this apply to electronic versions as well?

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The Eerdman's statement also said at the end, among the steps that they would take: "Offering credit to individuals and trade partners who have purchased the above three volumes." Does this apply to electronic versions as well?

 

They will be asking businesses with unsold copies of the book to no longer sell these editions, which they could likely only achieve if they offer to compensate for these books that can be no longer sold.  (Hence the refund)

 

There is nothing to refund to businesses that only sell electronic versions (Although the cost of the time spent manually/automatically laying-out and formatting an electronic resource assumedly can't be refunded)

Edited by Ιακοβ
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If I update the content on my Accordance, for the Pillar and NIGTC will I lose the O'Brien commentaries? If so, I will probably not update...especially since I payed for them. 

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No, as long as you don't remove the older sets you will not lose those commentaries. The new sets will not replace the old ones.

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No, as long as you don't remove the older sets you will not lose those commentaries. The new sets will not replace the old ones.

 

Thanks for clarifying! How do I ensure I don't remove them? I just don't want to have accidentally done that already.

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Thanks for clarifying! How do I ensure I don't remove them? I just don't want to have accidentally done that already.

 

You would have to manually remove them from the Library AND Trash them to have done that. It is always smart to have a backup somewhere. Regardless, the old products should still show in Easy Install if you accidentally removed them.

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You would have to manually remove them from the Library AND Trash them to have done that. It is always smart to have a backup somewhere. Regardless, the old products should still show in Easy Install if you accidentally removed them.

 

Julie, thank you for your response! That makes me feel a lot better about updating the content now. I appreciate it!  :)

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