I retain the copyright to everything I have written here. I have done my best to provide the sources of materials I have quoted or used from others. Content written by me may be freely used without requesting permission, but it may not be copyrighted by the user. However, I cannot grant permission for the use of those portions of copyrighted material by others which I have used here. Users will have to make their own decisions about how they will use that material in their context.
My own use of copyrighted material is guided by my interpretation of the ‘fair use’ principles in the U.S. copyright law. These principles have been kept intentionally vague in order to protect the creator’s right to compensation, while at the same time, providing the opportunity for a wider access to the creator’s work.
Regarding my use of copyrighted material:
- It is more likely to be considered ‘fair use’ if the use is not for the commercial profit of the user, and, if it is for educational purposes. These meditations are for educational purposes, and I receive no financial compensation for any of my work on this website.
- It is more likely to be considered ‘fair use’ if the resulting work is not in competition with the original. I cannot think of anything I have quoted or used that would diminish the sales of the original. I believe my use of the work of others can only benefit them by the exposure. It is my hope that my readers will be inspired to purchase and read more by the many excellent writers whose material I quote. I have, in fact, heard that has been the case for several of my readers.
- A good test for ‘fair use’ is to place yourself in the original author’s shoes. In my work, I believe I help the author with a wider exposure to his or her work, and I gain nothing for myself. I am more than pleased when I hear of others using what I have written in the same way.
- If the content on a page is the copyrighted material of someone else, the name of the copyright holder and the copyright date is provided. On those pages, I have either obtained permission to use the content, or, I believe my use is within the ‘fair use’ provision of the copyright law; but it is not for me to grant permission for the use of this material by someone else.
- Please inform me of any errors either in wording, or, in the name of the person to whom the selection is attributed. My sources may not always be accurate, and much of this material is the edited paraphrase of a translation. I have tried to be accurate, but for precise quotes, I encourage you to refer to the original text. I have indicated when I edited or paraphrased a selection, but sometimes the text I used had already been altered.
- After a certain number of years, copyrighted material does enter the public domain, though the formulas to determine precisely when that is can be complicated.
- If there is any copyright infringement on these pages, it is unintentional. If requested by the copyright holder, I will remove it. To the best of my knowledge, in the longer selections of older works, I have always used editions or translations already in the public domain, but my sources may not always be accurate. Also, if I have neglected to add credit, or wrongly attributed it, I will be happy to change it.
- Many times, I do not know (or cannot remember) if I created, reworked, or unwittingly called to mind something I had previously read. With that in mind, I quote from the book ‘credits’ of two others who faced that same problem. The first from Lutheran pastor and author Kent Knutson: “I do not know the source of all the words. Some of them surely are stolen from those wiser than I, but the moments of their communication to me are lost from my consciousness. So, I ask forgiveness of those books or people from whom I have borrowed. Perhaps some who read will recognize their own words. I hope you are complimented rather than distressed. You have my permission to borrow without credit. If, in the process, the Gospel is enlightened and its power enriches others, we shall, both of us, the giver and the borrower, have been faithful.” The second is from theologian and author H. Richard Niebuhr: “There are reflections in this book which I regard as the fruits of my own effort to understand, but which, nevertheless, are in reality ideas which I have appropriated from others. Yet there is more pleasure than embarrassment in acknowledging this unspecified indebtedness to members of that wide community in which all know that none possesses anything that he has not received, and that ‘as we have freely received, so we may freely give’ (see Matthew 10:8).”