I recently finished writing my first book (available soon, pre-order it now). My book, probably not surprisingly, concerns Freemasonry and Kabbalah. As I was working with editors the question of proper capitalization was raised. I realized that I wasn’t exactly sure about it. Following the tradition of capitalizing every word related to Freemasonry (Freemason, Mason, Masonic, Lodge, etc.) produced a manuscript where far too many words were capitalized and seemed inappropriately reverential.
I started looking for a style guide to consult. I found the one in place for the Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, the publication of the Quatuor Coronati research lodge. This was useful. Being British however, not all of that style guide was appropriate for American authors like me. I followed their preferences when it came to capitalization. I also disagreed with their preference for “cabbala.” Their justification that it is the “Hebrew tradition” is strange to me. If that was ever the case, it no longer is. Modern scholarship, particularly among Jewish scholars, now prefers “Kabbalah.”
To make things easier for myself and my editors in the future, I decided to compile my own style guide. I’ll include it here. It is obviously very incomplete and I’ll add to it with time. Refer to the Chicago Manual of Style for anything that is not specifically mentioned here.
Abbreviations
Abbreviations for masonic titles should be avoided except when they immediately follow the person’s name. They should be rendered without periods between the letters. For example, “John Smith, PM” not “John Smith, P.M.”
Capitalization
freemason
freemasonic (discouraged)
freemasonically (discouraged)
Freemasonry
grand lodge
Kabbalah
kabbalist
kabbalistic
kabbalistically
lodge
mason
masonic
masonically
Masonry
Dates
January 23, 2024
From 1960 to 1966 (not from 1960-66)
In the 1980s (no apostrophe)
twentieth century