In my previous post I wrote how I prepared a short personal version of Jesus' teachings based on selecting and rewriting passages from the Complete Gospels.
Since I thought that this particular selection I made highlighted unusual aspects of Jesus' teachings, I thought I may just self-online publish the text in case anyone is interested.
I therefore contacted the editor of the Complete Gospels just to make sure there is no problem with it.
Here is the short answer I received:
Since I thought that this particular selection I made highlighted unusual aspects of Jesus' teachings, I thought I may just self-online publish the text in case anyone is interested.
I therefore contacted the editor of the Complete Gospels just to make sure there is no problem with it.
Here is the short answer I received:
Polebridge Press, the copyright holder, denies you the right to use any part, or a substantial similarity, of The Complete Gospels edited by Robert J. Miller, in all media now known or later developed. This matter is now closed and not open to any further negotiation.
I was quite puzzled by this reply. One the one hand, of course, the Complete Gospels were written based on new translations of all available texts, which took a tremendous amount of time, effort and expertise. From this point of view the text deserves the copyright. On the other hand, it seems wired that one can be forbidden to publish a text of 'substantial similarity' to the Complete Gospels... after 2000 years during which substantially similar versions of Jesus' gospels were taught all over the world.
Of course, it is extremely unlikely that reading my little text would have stopped anyone from buying the Complete Gospels (which I strongly recommend reading!).
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