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Random Bit from the AP Styleguide

 


Looking at the latest AP styleguide. 

(Okay, how nerdish can one get?)

There is quite a discussion here of religious references, which one capitalizes and which get lower case treatment. Arbitrariness, art thou Satan or Savior? 

One lowercases "heaven, hell, devil, angel, cherub, an apostle, a priest," etc. But one capitalizes Hades and ... Satan. (Imagine that sentence in "Church Lady" pronunciation.)  

Within this discussion, (pp. 257-58 of the 55th edition of the styleguide, for those of you following along at home) there is a subsection on the life of Christ.

Capitalize the doctrinal names of major events in that life, as in the Last Supper, the Cruxifixion, the Resurrection....

But if His name (either with cap J or cap C) appears in the sentence, then the above doctrinal terms get demoted to lower-case treatment, as in "The preacher alluded to the 40 day period between the resurrection of Jesus and his ascension into heaven." 

No, I'm not going anywhere with this.  


Comments

  1. HenrySeptember 9, 2021 at 10:18 AM

    I have an old edition of the AP Stylebook; I don't see an edition number, but it was published in 1994. With respect to the matters you describe, nothing has changed, except that the religion pages are 170-172. As with the lawyers' Bluebook, I think that they issue new editions mainly to make money, as opposed to advancing the art of editing.

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