I’m the first to admit, I can be nitpicky about grammar and punctuation. I always loved spelling bees and—you’re really going to think I’m nerdy now—I can diagram a sentence with the best of them! My first job after college was as a newspaper copy editor.
Imagine my surprise when my first book came back from my editor in 2015 with all the deity pronouns changed to lowercase. My sentences started out like this:
With all that had happened, she had a hard time trusting God. She kept seeing sign after sign that He didn’t care.
And came back like this:
With all that had happened, she had a hard time trusting God. She kept seeing sign after sign that he didn’t care.
That lowercased he didn’t seem right, so I checked in my Bible. Yikes! Deity pronouns were lowercased! How did that happen? I just knew they were supposed to be capitalized.
I did a little research. Apparently, the capitalization of deity pronouns, which may have come from German, where all nouns are capitalized, became common in the 1800s and declined in use in the 1900s, becoming less common after about 1950.
Then how did I grow up thinking they were capitalized? I wasn’t around before 1950!
After a while, I figured it out. I wasn’t born before 1950, but I bet a lot of the books and Bibles I grew up reading were printed back then. They didn’t reflect the latest thinking on capitalization, much like my high school history textbook didn’t tell any about anything that happened after World War II.
That made sense, but I still wanted to capitalize those pronouns in my book. Capitalizing He and Him felt more respectful, and as an indie author, the final decision was mine. I knew, though, as a former copy editor, that my emotions shouldn’t decide how to spell or capitalize things. I checked the official guide to grammar and punctuation for fiction, The Chicago Manual of Style. It said to use lowercase. Finally, still thinking those capitals should be there, I looked at how Bible publishers handled the question.
I checked John 3:16 in 36 different Bible translations. Only seven of them capitalized the deity pronouns. When I looked only at the seven translations I was most familiar with, versions like the King James and the NIV and the NASB, only two of them capitalized deity pronouns.
That made up my mind. I decided to use lowercase for deity pronouns. I figured if the majority of Bible translations, done by people who can read Greek and Hebrew and know more than I do and don’t take such decisions lightly, use lowercase, that’s what I should do.
And in the end, I know it’s not capital letters that show how much I respect God. It’s how I live my life.
I have an interesting side note to share. Oddly enough, the morning after I wrote the draft of this blog, when I did my daily devotional, I read the following verses, Matthew 15:8-9.
“‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
9 They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.’”
If ever there was a nudge from God that he really doesn’t get all worked up over capital letters, I think that was it. At least that’s how it seems to me.
These days, when I’m not thinking about capitalization, I’m getting ready for the release of my new book next month. Here’s a little bit about the story and a look at the cover!
Two orphaned babies, one overwhelmed uncle, one former fiancée…
One way or another, freelance editor Kristen Hamlin will keep her word. She promised to raise her best friend’s baby girls, should the need ever arise, and she meant it. Obviously, the twins should never be given to their workaholic uncle. After all, he’s the same man who broke his engagement to Kristen so he could spend more time with his real love—computers. But when tragedy strikes, leaving the twins as orphans, Kristen discovers that the paperwork was never done. He’s the legal guardian.
Entrepreneur Clay Norris has his hands full, taking care of his twin nine-month-old nieces, not to mention running his computer-gaming company. To make matters worse, his former fiancée claims she should have been given custody of the twins—not him—and has now suddenly moved in next door. Coincidence? He thinks not.
Once the demands of looking after two infants require a team effort, Clay and Kristen are inevitably drawn together. Old feelings rekindle, but the couple struggles to move beyond painful mistakes from the past. As circumstances conspire against them, can they learn to forgive one another, accept God’s limitless grace, and find the courage to take a chance on love once more?
If you’d like to join my street team, read the ebook book for free before it’s released, and help me tell people about it, I’d love to have your help! Please email me at author@sallybayless.com if you’d like to join.
And if you don’t want to join a street team but you’d like to read a sample of the first few chapters before the book is released, sign up here for my newsletter!
I’m so excited to send this book out in the world next month!
Sally Bayless writes contemporary Christian romance that features compelling characters, real-world problems, and uplifting endings filled with the power of love. She lives in the beautiful hills of Appalachian Ohio and has two grown children. When not working on her next book, she enjoys reading, watching BBC television with her husband, doing Bible studies, kayaking, and shopping for cute shoes. For updates on her writing and a free insider’s guide to her books, subscribe to her newsletter by clicking the newsletter icon below or visiting http://bit.ly/NewsfromSally.
I have always used the capitals too. It just seemed right.
Hi Sally, how interesting. I thought that pronouns for God were capitalised too- and do so when I write. I love the verse you use- it’s where my heart is that matters!
Blessings:)
I feel very strongly about capitalizing deity pronouns. It just makes it clearer which “he” or “He” we’re talking about. I don’t really care that grammar has changed recently. When it comes to gender-fluid pronouns and using “she” instead of “he” as the default nowadays, I’m still not going to do it. So I will continue to capitalize pronouns related to God. And because I’m an indie author, too, I can do it if I please. And I do. ;)
I know it’s currently grammatically correct, but caps on the God pronouns can change (and has as you explained) – so I cap them. I talked to my readers about it and an overwhelming majority found it disrespectful and made them question the author’s reverence to do otherwise. CMOS can say what it wants, I’m going to do what I can to keep my readers happy.
Hi Sally! As a German with a degree in German, who was raised in a German speaking church and my husband was a pastor of a German speaking church in Chicago, I disagree with the research you stated. German nouns are capitalized, but NOT PRONOUNS. Only the formal YOU. In German churches since believers belong to the Family of GOD, we use the informal address with God, church members, etc.. Informal pronouns – he, she, it are not capitalized. So different cultures approach this topic in different ways. Even checked my German Bibles – Luther version and Good News version. Pronouns are not capitalized in German, because God is our Heavenly Father. Thanks for the interesting blog. Enjoy your weekend.
As an indie author/publisher, I had a talk with my editor way back at the beginning. I wanted to capitalize deity pronouns, and she cited sources that said it wasn’t currently the proper style. She agreed to allow them since I felt strongly.
When I quote from the versions of the Bible that do NOT capitalize, I quote as printed, without the caps. But some versions do use caps! And those, too, I quote as printed, with the caps. The same goes for old hymns in the public domain. I quote as originally printed.
Which sometimes means it is a slight mishmash in my books, but it would be either way, since I often quote The Voice, which uses caps!
Conundrums indeed.
I agree! Thanks for sharing that your readers also agree that the pronouns should be capitalized!
Gorgeous cover!
French, too, has a different twist. All the pronouns are no-caps. The difference that really caught me when I first saw it was using the informal address for God. I was taught that the formal address was a sign of respect. Who deserves more respect than God, right? No, that arm’s length sort of thought is replaced by the informal address made possible by the work of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit (there, I think I finally got the whole trinity capitalized :)) which enables us to address God as Abba, the child’s address, the equivalent of Daddy. Somewhere in there, I think there is a balance between formal reverence and familiar love. It’s neat that, as authors, we get to go searching for it and put it on display. As readers, we get to seek it out and let it deepen our worship.
Hi Mary,
I appreciate hearing your thoughts on this! :) Thanks for reading my post and commenting!
Thank you, Wemble! Blessings to you as well!
Great cover!! However, I have to say, I prefer any reference to God be capitalized, I don’t care who says differently! To be honest, I think some of the changes made in grammar and punctuation today are wrong. Commas need to be added and semi-colons need to be used. There are so many run-on sentences, and commas not being used, that it is sometimes very off-putting to me. I can only imagine what some of my English teachers from my elementary school years through college would think about things today! And, I’m not that old!! Lol!!
Hi Lila,
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. I really appreciate the feedback.
Blessings. :)
Hi Elizabeth,
You make a very good point, one I will continue to ponder. Thank you.
Interesting. My editor has me capitalize deity pronouns.
Hi Renate,
Thank you for clarifying how things work in German for me, and for explaining the thought behind the use of lowercase pronouns for God in German Bibles. As you can tell, I’m unfamiliar with German. Having studied French, though, I understand the use of different words for formal and informal addresses. I love the idea that God is so close that references in German use the informal address. Hope you have a good weekend as well!
Hi Valerie,
I think your use of the word “conundrum” is perfect. It is nearly impossible to be accurate in our quotations and consistent throughout a manuscript. I guess that’s why there’s no one way of handling the issue, even among traditional publishers. Of course, if everything was easy, we wouldn’t think about it. :)
Hi Lincoln
What a lovely insight! Thank you for sharing your thoughts! I really like your comment that as authors and readers we search for answers. Truly, if I were to address the issue of capitalization in my books with this in mind, I would use capitals some places, where I felt the character felt more reverence for God and lowercase in others, where a character comes to him more as a child to a parent, seeking comfort. I know in my daily life I can go from reverence when I see a sunrise to needing God to comfort me when I read the morning news and think about the pain and suffering in our world. I know that goes against the idea of consistency in punctuation and spelling in a publication, but it might make the most sense in an odd way.
Hi Trudy! I am so glad you like my new cover! Oddly enough, I began life as a journalist, where style dictates that commas be omitted. I’ve come, as I’ve been writing fiction, to love the Oxford comma! And I will certainly join you as a fan of the semi-colon. It’s such a functional bit of punctuation. I wish it hadn’t fallen from favor.
Thanks, Toni! And thanks for stopping by!
Hi Merrillee,
Thanks for your comment! I’ve found this blog discussion very interesting.
I wonder how a vote would go if I asked a room full of editors. I bet they would get into quite a discussion!
Have a great weekend,
An adorable cover. Congratulations
I find this so interesting, as I always capitalize them, for me it’s respect and I think I will keep.doimg it that way 🤣
Thank you so much!
Hi Paula Marie! Thanks for commenting. I really appreciate hearing your viewpoint.
I still don’t feel right with lower case for dirty pronouns.
Thank you for sharing. I love the cover.