Christian apologist Wesley Huff has responded publicly to accusations of plagiarism concerning academic papers he posted online nearly a decade ago, acknowledging that his citation practices in those papers were faulty while disputing some of the claims made against him.

The accusations were raised on November 3 by Dan McClellan, who posted a video arguing that papers Huff had placed on Academia.edu in 2016 used the work of other scholars without proper credit. Professor Stephen C. Carlson, one of the scholars whose work was involved, also stated that Huff had rewritten his sources as if they were his own work, calling it, in his words, "textbook plagiarism."

Huff, who serves as Central Canada Director for Apologetics Canada and has taken part in public debates and dialogues on questions of faith across North America, answered with a brief video on YouTube. In it, he took responsibility for the quality of the papers and for the way he handled his sources.

"Let me be totally upfront and take responsibility for that, for what I think is bad," Huff said. "This paper, in fact, all of the papers I put on academia.edu almost a decade ago are bad. Their use of citation and attribution is problematic."

Huff said the papers were never formally submitted to an academic journal and that he has not had access to the Academia.edu account in more than a decade. He added that the papers were in "some form of submission limbo" and were not well written. "The citation use is troublesome," he said. "There are indeed people I should have referenced and credited for that that I did not."

Huff also said he contacted Bryan Wright, one of the men whose work he had used without proper credit, and personally apologized to him. According to Huff, Wright accepted the apology.

At the same time, Huff noted that the papers date from 2016 to 2018, a period when he was early in his academic journey, and said he has since completed further degrees and received mentorship from other scholars. He said he has not yet published a formal academic journal article and described himself as still early in his career.

"I was not the same person I am today," Huff said. "I've had four kids in that time frame. I've started entirely different degrees. I had a ton of mentorship and stewardship of credible and godly people who have helped me."

Not everyone is satisfied with Huff's response. Some observers have said that true repentance would require a plainer admission that he took the work of others and passed it off as his own, rather than describing the problem as troublesome citation. McClellan has also pushed back, disputing Huff's claim that none of the papers were submitted, noting that some carry cover sheets and submission dates.

For now, the matter rests as an accusation answered by an apology and an admission of fault, not as a finding by any academic institution or court. Huff closed his video by asking listeners to hear his heart in his apology. "I am not perfect," he said. "I need God's sustaining grace in my home, in my marriage, in my academic life. And I'm going to mess up. I'm going to make mistakes. And there's no getting around that this was a mistake."