Do you have a hobby about writing? Yes. I can be a downright activist when it comes to the correct spelling of the word “Bible.” When I say Bible, I mean the sacred writings of Christians and Jews, also known as the Scriptures. It seems that in recent years people have become accustomed to referring to this holy book as the “bible”. They put the name of the book in lower case.
I’m not sure why people do this, but I think it stems from two motivations: One is that posting on internet sites and texting has led to a great deal of sloppiness in writing. People are used to ignoring the Shift key and using keyboard shortcuts to create words and phrases that defy the grammar of any known language.
The second reason why so many people write Bibles in lower case is a bit more sinister. It’s a way for them to make a social, political, or theological statement that means they don’t believe the Bible is a holy book. Using the diminutive form of the word is a subtle way of denigrating everything the Bible stands for.
However, when it comes to writing clearly, it’s good to follow the rules. The word “Bible”, when referring to the holy book, is a proper noun and is always written with a capital letter. That writing rule is in all grammar books and people seem to stick to it when it comes to books, except when it comes to something as controversial as books related to religious faith.
“Holy Bible” and “Scripture” are also proper nouns and should always be capitalized. The word “biblical” is not a proper noun and is not capitalized. Therefore, she might have a sentence that looks like this: “She was a Bible student, and therefore she had a Biblical worldview.”
There are cases where the word Bible is not capitalized, when it is not used as a proper noun. For example, someone might write, “Gun safety is the first commandment in the shooter’s bible,” and that would be perfectly correct.
Christian writers will want to go the extra mile when it comes to the correct use of the word Bible and will always want to make sure the word is capitalized when referring to Scripture, even in informal writing. Some may even want to become grammar freaks like me, and when they see the Bible written in lower case, they may take a minute to help others understand the importance of proper noun usage.