Dear Editor: Should we Capitalize Deity Pronouns?
This question has recently been raised in one of the (many) Facebook groups I’m a member of. This group happened to be a Christian reader group, but it’s a question that seemingly flummoxes readers and writers alike.
Do we need to capitalize personal pronouns when referring to God?
Style manuals refer to pronouns such as He, His, Him, and Your when referring to God as deity pronouns.
I was taught that we capitalize deity pronouns as a matter of respect and honour (dubious, as I’ll show below). I was also taught that we use double quotation marks for speech (still true), single quotation marks for speech (now considered dated), and to add a comma where I’d add a pause if reading aloud (not true, and a topic probably best left for another blog post).
The Facebook group’s answers unhelpfully ranged from “Yes, always” to “No, never” with a healthy sprinkling of “Sometimes” and “It depends”. Several respondents based their answers based on the practice in their Bibles … which were equally inconsistent (for those who are interested, compare the New International Version with the New American Standard Bible).
Surely there is an answer. That’s why we have style guides!
What is a style guide?
Most publishers have a style guide: a set of rules governing how they treat a range of editing questions including spelling, grammar, punctuation, and word usage. Editors will follow the guidelines of one (or more) of these style guides in editing or proofreading a manuscript and may also create a style sheet explaining the spelling or treatment of words specific to that manuscript to ensure correctness and consistency.
Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS)
The Chicago Manual of Style is one of the two most commonly used style guides in the USA, with the other being AP (Associated Press). As a broad generalization, CMOS is more commonly used for fiction, and AP is more common in journalism. Non-fiction publishers may follow CMOS or may use a genre-specific style guide.
CMOS says (8.95):
Pronouns referring to God or Jesus are not capitalized unless a particular author or publisher prefers otherwise.
So that’s one vote for not capitalizing deity pronouns … but the author can decide.
The New Oxford Style Manual (NOSM)
The New Oxford Style Manual is one of the major UK style manuals and incorporates New Hart’s Rules (the UK equivalent of Elements of Style by Strunk & White). The NOSM (like CMOS) grew out of the need for the Oxford University Press to have a consistent view on style for their publishing business.
NOSM says (p97):
Use lower case for pronouns referring to God where the reference is clear, unless the author specifies otherwise.
That’s another vote for lowercasing deity pronouns unless the author prefers capitalization.
The Australian Style Manual (ASM)
The Style Manual is the official style manual used by the Australian government, as well as many Australian publishers and authors. New Zealand publishers may also use it, as although it’s not new (2002), it’s considerably newer than the local equivalent, which is 1995). It’s also shorter and easier to read than CMOS! ASM says (p127):
In the past, the capital letter assigned to God was often extended to the attendant pronouns … but this is now less common.
That’s a non-answer. We don’t want to know what’s common or uncommon. We want to know what’s right!
The Christian Writer’s Manual of Style (CWMS)
Zondervan (publishers of the New International Version of the Bible) recognize that the major style guides don’t address many of the style issues raised by those writing for a Christian audience, so they publish their own style guide (written by Robert Hudson). Many Christian publishers use CWMS, either alone or in conjunction with another style guide such as CMOS.
The Christian Writer’s Manual of Style says (p145):
Most publishers, religious and general, use the lowercase style … to conform to the two most popular versions of the Bible (the bestselling New International Version and the historically dominant King James Version).
That’s another vote for telling us what people do. Helpful. Not.
It might be worth pointing out that Zondervan publish the NIV. Zondervan are owned by HarperCollins, who also publish the New King James Version, which also lowercases these “deity pronouns”.
CWMS points out that (despite popular belief) we don’t capitalize as a way to show respect or honour. After all, we capitalize God and Satan, yet only one deserves our honour.
In addition, there is no true historical precedent for capitalizing. Capitalization became trendy when lots of Nouns were being Capitalized for Emphasis (a trend which rightly disturbed grammarians). William Tyndale (translator of one of the earliest English Bibles) didn’t consistently capitalize God, let alone He or Him (or he or him), and neither Hebrew nor Greek distinguishes between lowercase and capital letters the way English does, so the original Scriptures provide no guidance.
What CWMS does say is this:
[Capitalizing] gives a book, at best, a dated, Victorian feel, and at worst, an aura of irrelevance to modern readers.
That’s worth thinking about—no one wants to their work to be considered dated or irrelevant.
A fiction author may therefore consider it appropriate to use He and Him in a historical novel. That may well the case, but the “rule” shouldn’t hold true for all historical fiction. It would appear odd for Jesus to refer to himself as “Me” in a biblical novel at the same time as his enemies were referring to him (Him?) as “You”.
CWMS goes on to point out that capitalization can be confusing for younger readers (who were never taught that deity pronouns should be capitalised). Also, using capitals could imply emphasis where none was intended.
Summary
Yes, the major style guides prefer that personal pronouns referring to God are not capitalized. But they also allow for author (or publisher) preference.
So if you (or your client) wants to capitalize He and Him, You and Your, then they can. My preference would be only to capitalize the pronouns referring to God in historical fiction where capitalization was consistent with the time setting (e.g. for novels set in Victorian England, but not Roman Israel).
The most important factor in any editing decision is consistency.
We can refer to Jesus as He or he, Him or him, but we must choose one and apply that style choice consistently. Neither He nor he is incorrect but using He and he is definitely wrong.
Great post, Iola. Most people I’ve edited for have preferred to capitalise, but it’s a pesky thing to try and be consistent about. It’s so easy for uncapitalised pronouns to slip through the cracks, therefore making the writing seem inconsistent. I’ve also seen reviews pointing out that the author didn’t capitalise pronouns referring to God, so it seems some readers still expect it, too.
Thanks, Katie!
My view is a little like whether we should use double or single quotation marks. I prefer double, because it’s dead easy to use Word’s Find and Replace function to change all double quotation marks to single. The reverse isn’t so easy, because a lot of apostrophes will be changed as well. Equally, it’s not hard to change He and Him to he and him (except where they occur at the beginning of a sentence). The reverse is almost impossible without a careful proofread.
And I think you’re right in that a lot of readers still expect to see He and Him.
I apply a simple test in my Roman-era novels. If the character believes in God and Jesus, then the answer is yes. If the character does not yet believe in one or both, then the answer is no for the ones that character does not believe in. Since at least one character’s faith position flips during each of my novels, you can follow their changing faith by whether a pronoun is capitalized or not.
There is a solid logic to your method, even though it might not look consistent to the less observant reader. But it’s a subtle way of reinforcing Christian themes and the way God changes us. I like that!
Interesting topic. I was also taught in school to capitalise these pronouns as a sign of respect but had noticed it is no longer common.
It’s fascinating to learn that originally it was less about respect and more about emphasis.
I asked my teens if this was something they were taught in school, and they said no – God isn’t mentioned in their state schools. Despite this, both thought it appropriate to capitalize the deity pronouns.
Great post, Iola. I’ve wondered about this. I’m relieved that I don’t have to use those pesky capitals any more. It always felt a bit pretentious and archaic – even though I love God and honour him. Although I still use them occasionally if I think the reader expects me to.
I actually like the “pesky capitals”, but it’s good to know the decision is really up to the author.
I have worked for a Christian organization for over 30 years and was told early on that if the words ‘God’ or ‘Jesus’ are in the sentence, you don’t need to capitalize the pronouns, but if it isn’t, you do capitalize. But now I see it both ways.
Have you ever heard that before?
Hi Anne,
No, I haven’t heard of that before. I don’t like it. One of the main guidelines in editing is that the document should be internally consistent. So you can either capitalise deity pronouns or not capitalise deity pronouns, but choosing to capitalise some and not others isn’t consistent and could confuse readers.
Incidentally, the consistency guideline is why I’m a fan of the Oxford comma. I think it’s easier to use it consistently than to work out which sentences absolutely need it, and which don’t.
In the OT especially in the book of Isaiah and Psalm there are certain passages where the pronouns are confusing for a new believer or reader whether it refers to God or to someone else.
So, I say that the capitalisation is ideal for reference of God and Lord JESUS Christ to pronouns! Also, it’s a symbolic respect in reference to God widely accepted. In a court, they refer to a judge as ‘Your Honor’ or ‘Chief Justice’ and for a mayor in some countries is addressed as ‘Your worship/worshipful Mayor’ and His (Her) Royal Highness, His (Her) Majesty (for Royal families)
https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/awards-tributes/forms-of-address/
Of course, it’s every individual’s freedom of choice! Just like to give respect or not give respect, to choose life or death.
Capitalize because in ‘conversation’ where two people are talking, say, Jesus and Paul, he and him may be used in same sentences and/or in a contextually complex manner and, so, to easily KNOW who is who… the capital ‘H’ always refers to Deity.
I agree, but it’s the publisher’s choice. If you self-publish, you get to choose. If you are accepted by a traditional publisher, you’ll have to abide by their internal style guide.
Thanks for the great post lola! I wrote a Christian book and am over half-way done with my second. It started feeling odd to capitalize the deity related pronouns in my latest work and I think your post and the comments have helped me. I’m probably not going to capitalize. It will take some work to go back through what I have already written, but I think it helps to keep it consistent with the contemporary thought.
Thanks again,
Jason F
I thought it was odd and uncomfortable to capitalize a pronoun until I saw that the I in Internet is capitalized so now I capitalize pronouns referring to the Godhead in reverence to God. I believe there’s no power greater. So, it’s a forced reaction. I’d prefer we keep grammar simple and let it be one rule for all to remain in consistency with its original intent. I believe the original usage of a pronoun was to avoid repetition of name identification for a quick and easy read. I believe inconsistency occurs when we go off course from it’s original plan.
“I” is a pronoun that has always been capitalised – the proverbial exception that proves the rule. I haven’t actually looked at the original use of a pronoun. That’s probably a question for Grammar Girl.
Thank you for this post on an often repeated question especially within Christian publishing and writing circles.
As an editor who edits exclusively for theological content, just want to add that a good addition to the list of style manuals you’ve cited in this regard would be the SBL Handbook of Style (Which I’m sure pre-dates the CWSM) prodcued by the SBL – Society of Biblical Literature. This is used for academic theological writing (in conjunction with another guide like CMOS or Hart’s Rules). And yes, SBL also recommends NOT to capitalise: Pronouns referring to God, such as “he”, ‘you’ should NOT be capitalised; (SBL: 4.4.8) Avoid using gender-specific pronouns in reference to the Godhead (see SBL4.3). In those cases when such pronouns are unavoidable, they should not be capitalized (thus he, him, his; but for expressions like Third Person of the Trinity, see §4.4.7).
Hope this is a helpful addition.
– Jessica
Thank you for your comment. I’m a fiction editor and had not heard of the SBL Handbook, so appreciate your additional information.
Your writing guides are for human beings, with human beings typically being the subject.
Since this isn’t in scripture, you shouldn’t take or add from THE BOOK, but use other scripts as given by God.
HE is ALLLLLLLLLLWAYS the capital. The capitalizing on God needs to stop..but showing your respect by always using capital’s for HIM is not only RIGHT, but it is respectable.
Don’t lean on ur own understanding.
Ur article is a waste of time and an insalt to God.
To mock another especially for a typo is very immature and childish. It just makes this whole page look unprofessional and untrustworthy. Yes, I could mock others for things they say too, we are all in the same sinking boat without Christ. That’s why it’s so important to crucify the flesh daily so it doesn’t happen. The Bible says the hardest thing to tame is the tongue (Or in this case typing fingers haha) I only wish to come off Christ-like and be more like Him and spread the gospel. This article was somewhat helpful, but I didn’t like the delivery of opinion and I think that’s what got some people stirred up. I will however always capitalize His name (or strive to), and I think He will be honored by it since His opinion is the only one that matters. I do think there are more important things to discuss. But I appreciate the post and I hope to see you all one day. The Kingdom awaits!
Thank you for your comment. I thought I’d edited that comment, but the edit didn’t save and I have now deleted the comment.
There’s certainly nothing wrong with a Christian capitalizing the words, “He” and “Him” when referring to God or Jesus Christ. If Jesus is a character in a novel, like “Ben-Hur,” then using the lower case “he” should be fine although the upper case I think should be used if a follower of Jesus is speaking about Him.
Ben-Hur is an interesting example because it’s set during the time of Jesus, before people recognised Jesus as Messiah. It’s therefore consistent with the characters that they’d use lower case.
I feel like it’s not capitalized enough. There’s a sovereign citizen kind of wacky idea that your name on your Social Security Card is in all caps because it’s relating to more than just your physical body. It relates to your property and other things of that nature there’s some Latin phrase for this called likes Sua maxim or something like that. In any case, I only refer to MY LORD is just that or Adonai, I don’t know being the only one that I don’t capitalize every letter, and regardless of it being pronoun, or me, referring to HIM with her speaking on current or past events. Changing how much you revere HE Who IS So Above our understanding for “consistencies” sake is unbelievable to me because if you can consistently decapitalize it, you can consistently capitalize it. There’s no reason specifically that this is done other than one thing I’ve seen that is to save space on a page which is really not an issue we even have control F and find and replace. It’s not like we are rocking a Gutenberg press, so I give respect where it is so infinitely due.
I’m glad we’ve progressed beyond the Gutenberg press. Thanks for sharing.
This was a very helpful article; thank you! It surprises me to learn that William Tyndale wasn’t consistent on capitalizing God’s name itself because that would infer (to me, anyhow) that he was speaking of a lesser god, or idol. But then again, back in those days there were 4 different accepted ways to spell “street” and “inn” so I suppose it wasn’t too big of a deal with the readers at that time.