Latter-day Saint Terms and Titles

 

Reference used with permission: Style Guide for Publications of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Writers Style Guide and Glossary located at www.lds.org/newsroom. Numbers in parentheses are provided as reference numbers. Please see original text for a more complete listing and additional information. Italics are added for emphasis.  

 

  A   B   C  -   E   -  G   H  -  L   M   N  -   P   Q   R   S   T  

 

General Authority (7.24)

Capitalize the designations of the callings of General Authorities and the designations of those offices that are held by General Authorities by virtue of their positions as General Authorities

     a General Authority; the General Authorities 

    the Brethren 

    President of the Church; the fifth President 

    First Counselor in the First Presidency 

   Apostles; the Twelve (Apostles) 

    senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve  

    President [or Acting President] of the Quorum

    Area President, Area Presidency (First Counselor in the Area Presidency) 

 

(In text, refer to General Authorities by their appropriate titles. However, do not include titles in source citations for published articles or research papers.) 

 

general auxiliaries (7.29)

Capitalize official names of general Church organizations:

    the Primary

    the Relief Society

    the Sunday School

    the Young Women

    the Young Men

 

See Church titles and offices. 

 

general conference (7.35-36)

General conferences are given specific designations so the different conferences within the series can be distinguished from each other. In such cases, capitalize the official name: the 160th Annual (in April) or Semiannual (in October) General Conference.

 

Lowercase the word conference when a month is used to identify a conference or when a specific conference is identified, but not with its official title. 

    April conference; April 1975 general conference 

    Manchester area conference 

 

Gospel(s), gospel (7.44-45,52)

Capitalize the names of books within the standard works. Although the terms gospel and epistle are capitalized, lowercase the word book (even if it is printed in the scriptures as part of the title) to maintain simplicity and consistency and to avoid confusion between the Book of Mormon and the book of Mormon: 

    Genesis; the book of Genesis; the first book of Moses 

    Joseph Smith—Matthew 

    Joseph Smith—History 

 

Capitalize and set in roman type divisions and sections of the Bible:    

    the Apocrypha

    the Old Testament, the New Testament 

 

Lowercase most religious terms (including references to religious ordinances, principles, and doctrines):

    the gospel; the restored gospel 

 

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