@Meg: A sentence half way down the article you link to starts off “Without
actually looking at the work…” I don’t put much stock in a critique
written by someone who hasn’t even bothered to read the book.

Chris Anderson has apologized for missing some Wikipedia, etc., attributions
and said it was a mix-up of notes. I can see how that could happen. The most
famous copied passage is about the term “Free Lunch.” He decided when
writing that he wanted to have a digression about this concept, cut and
pasted notes from various sources and then forgot which parts he had written
and which were copied. Honest mistake of a few pages in a 257 page book. But
because the topic is disruptive business models, he’s under suspicion of
intentional piracy and disregard for copyright.

But step back for the context. Chris Andeson isn’t some pimply-faced
teenager sitting in a basement downloading the latest U2 album off Pirate
Bay. He’s editor in chief of a flagship Conde Nast publication. The book is
published and edited by an imprint of Disney, the largest media company in
the world (and arguably the architect of copyright as we know it, as
extensions of copyright law are passed every few years just as Mickey Mouse
is about to fall into public domain). High profile executives of Conde Nast
and the Walt Disney Company aren’t the ones who are going to lead attacks on
intellectual property and copyright.

BTW, it’s definitely a good book. Easy to read, thoughtful. I would imagine
it would be important for librarians, since we’re talking about models of
content consumption. My copy comes from the Atlantic County Library System,
who will probably not be getting back quite on the due date (shhh!).

I appreciate your kind response!

@Marshall: thanks for the deeper explanation. Yes, I wasn’t expecting that
Chris Anderson was going very deep into BIblical criticism. That kind of
in-between both/neither of free and slave to Christ that I think you’re
describing is also my experience with the Light. I wonder if our adoption of
the word “Friend” has led many of us to minimize the obligation/servitude
side of the equation.

Marshall: thanks for the deeper explanation of friend/free/beloved. Yes, I wasn’t expecting that Chris Anderson was going very deep into BIblical criticism. That kind of in-between both/neither of free and slave to Christ that I think you’re describing is also my experience with the Light. I wonder if our adoption of the word “Friend” has led many of us to minimize the obligation/servitude side of the equation.

Paul testified that those in Christ were neither slave nor free. (Galatians 3:28; Colossians 3:11) He sent at least one slave who had become Christian and run away from captivity, back to his master who also a Christian, with an eloquent plea that the master — no, not liberate the slave — but treat the slave as if he were Paul himself. (Philemon)

I have personally found the idea that we who are Christ’s friends are not free, any more than we are slaves, to be a powerful teaching; it has altered my attitude in ways that have opened the door to wonderful interactions with others.