USA TODAY, like most big newspapers, has its own style guide for reporters and editors. Stylebooks are dry, humorless things — usually.
I was perusing USA TODAY’s stylebook today when I came across this entry for the Bible:
Thou shalt capitalize, without quotation marks or italics, when referring to the Scriptures in the Old Testament or the New Testament. Thou shalt capitalize related terms such as the Gospels, Gospel of St. Mark, the Scriptures, the Holy Scriptures.
Thou shalt lowercase biblical in all uses.
Thou shalt lowercase bible as a non-religious term: My dictionary is my bible.
Thou shalt not abbreviate individual books of the Bible, and thou shalt not italicize or put quotation marks around books of the Bible. Citations listing the number of chapter and verse(s) use this form: Matthew 3:16, Luke 21:1-13, 1 Peter 2:1.
Stylebook humor. Who knew?
