Church work, reason for sophistry (4,5)
I believe the answer is:
chop logic
'church work reason for sophistry' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.
'church work reason' is the wordplay.
'church' becomes 'ch' (common abbreviation).
'work' becomes 'op' (abbreviation for opus).
'reason' becomes 'logic' (I've seen this before).
'ch'+'op'+'logic'='CHOP-LOGIC'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for chop logic that I've seen before include "To be pedantic" , "argue falsely" , "Argue pedantically" .)