Hi Brady,

This is a matter of a translator's preference. The original languages don't use capitals.

Let me give you another example. Some translations capitalize pronouns that refer to God or any member of the Trinity, others do not. I've actually seen more Protestant translations capitalize these pronouns than Catholic translations.

When I write, I usually capitalize Church when referring to the Catholic Church, but when referring to churches as in:

• local churches
• rites, or
• Protestant communities

I usually won't capitalize.

John

Hi, Brady —

Capitalization is purely an editorial decision. Of course nothing is capitalized in the Bible, as there are no capitals (or at least no lowercase) in either Greek or Hebrew so this depends on the translation.

It also depends on the language and customs of the target audience. What may be capitalized in one language may not be capitalized in another. (e.g., in Spanish, the months are not capitalized.)

The trend in recent times has been towards less capitalization. It used to be in English that all nouns were capitalized, as in German. You will see this in the original Constitution and other documents.

So the short answer is, (whether the reason is arbitrary or one of custom and fashion), they are moving in the less capitalization direction.

Eric