{{Short description|Christian religious honorific style}} {{Redirect2|Reverend|Rev.|other uses|Reverend (disambiguation)|and|Rev. (disambiguation)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}} [[File:John Wesley. Stipple engraving by R. Hancock, 1790, after J. Wellcome V0006246EL.jpg|thumb|Profile of John Wesley, a major religious leader of the 18th century. He is styled ''The Rev<sup>d</sup>.'', an abbreviation of "The Reverend".]]
'''The Reverend''' (abbreviated as '''The Revd''', '''The Rev'd''' or '''The Rev''') is an honorific style given to certain (primarily Western) Christian clergy and ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and church traditions. ''The Reverend'' is correctly called a ''style'', but is sometimes referred to as a title, form of address, or title of respect.<ref name = "ldoceonline">{{cite web | url = http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/Reverend | title = Reverend | type = definition | publisher = Longman | work = LDoceOnline English Dictionary | edition = online | access-date = 24 October 2012 | archive-date = 29 February 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120229173531/http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/Reverend | url-status = live }}</ref>
==Etymology== The term is an anglicisation of the Latin {{lang|la|reverendus}}, the style originally used in Latin documents in medieval Europe. It is the gerundive or future passive participle of the verb {{lang|la|revereri}} ("to respect; to revere"), meaning "[one who is] to be revered/must be respected". ''The Reverend'' is therefore equivalent to ''the Honourable'' or ''the Venerable''.
Originating as a general term of respectful address in the 15th century, it became particularly associated with clergy by the 17th century,<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Reverend |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/reverend |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |date=17 January 2025 |access-date=26 February 2025 |language=en}}</ref> with variations associated with certain ranks in the church. It is paired with a modifier or noun for some offices in some traditions: Lutheran archbishops, Anglican archbishops, and most Catholic bishops are usually styled ''The Most Reverend'' ({{lang|la|reverendissimus}}); other Lutheran bishops, Anglican bishops, and Catholic bishops are styled ''The Right Reverend''.<ref name="Lutheran">{{cite book |title=The Lutheran Witness, Volumes 9-11 |date=1890 |publisher=C.A. Frank |page=67 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Crockford's">{{Cite web |url=https://www.crockford.org.uk/faq/how-to-address-the-clergy |title="How to address the clergy", ''Crockford's Clerical Directory'' website. |access-date=16 September 2016 |archive-date=17 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160917031523/https://www.crockford.org.uk/faq/how-to-address-the-clergy |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=C>{{Cite web |url=http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/how-to-address-church-officials.html |title="How to Address Church Officials", ''Catholic Education Resource Center'' website. |access-date=16 September 2016 |archive-date=16 September 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160916233344/http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/how-to-address-church-officials.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
The forms ''His Reverence'' and ''Her Reverence'' are also sometimes used, along with their parallel in direct address, ''Your Reverence''.<ref name="OED2017">{{cite web|url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/reverence|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180125015256/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/reverence|url-status=dead|archive-date=25 January 2018|title=His/Your Reverence|publisher=Oxford English Dictionary|language=en|access-date=17 December 2017|quote=1.2His/Your Reverence A title or form of address to a member of the clergy, especially a priest in Ireland. 'I regret, Your Reverence, that I cannot come to meet you.'}}</ref>
== Usage == In traditional and formal English usage it is still considered incorrect to drop the definite article, ''the'', before ''Reverend''. In practice, however, ''the'' is often not used in both written and spoken English. When the style is used within a sentence, ''the'' is correctly in lower-case.<ref>{{Citation | title = The Chicago Manual of Style | edition = 16th | publisher = The University of Chicago Press | place = Chicago | year = 2010}}</ref> Abbreviations for ''Reverend'' include ''Rev.'', ''Revd'' (or ''Rev<sup>d</sup>''), and ''Rev’d''. ''The Reverend'' is traditionally used as an adjectival form with first names (or initials) and surname, e.g. "the Reverend John Smith" or "the Reverend J. F. Smith"; if the first names (or initials) are unknown, the correct form is "The Reverend Mr./Mrs./Miss/Ms. Smith".<ref name="Crockford's"/> Use of the prefix with the surname alone, e.g. "The Reverend Smith", is incorrect (a solecism) in formal usage.<ref name="thinkquest"/><ref name="Crockford's"/> The style normally precedes titles such as Canon or Doctor.<ref name="Crockford's"/>
In the 20th and 21st centuries, it has been increasingly common{{citation needed|date=December 2024}} for the term to be used as a noun and for clergy to be referred to as being either ''a reverend'' or ''the reverend'', or to be addressed as simply ''reverend''. This has traditionally been considered incorrect on the basis that it is equivalent to referring to a judge as being ''an honourable'' or an adult man as ''a mister'', both of which are also grammatically improper.<ref name="thinkquest">{{cite web | url = http://library.thinkquest.org/10679/english/eng_abb.html | title = Information Internet: English Grammar, Abbreviations | publisher = Think quest | access-date = 24 October 2012 | archive-date = 21 October 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121021044051/http://library.thinkquest.org/10679/english/eng_abb.html | url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{Citation | title = The New Fowler's Modern English Usage | editor-first = RW | editor-last = Burchfield | publisher = Clarendon | place = Oxford | year = 1996}}</ref> It is likewise incorrect to form the plural ''reverends''. Some dictionaries,<ref>{{Citation | contribution-url = http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861701835/Reverend.html | contribution = Reverend | title = Encarta | publisher = MSN | type = online dictionary | access-date = 6 February 2009 | archive-date = 15 February 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090215002506/http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861701835/Reverend.html | url-status = dead }}</ref> however, do place the noun rather than the adjective as the word's principal form, owing to an increasing use of the word as a noun among people with no religious background or knowledge of traditional styles of ecclesiastical address. When several clergy are referred to, they are often styled individually (e.g. "The Reverend John Smith and the Reverend Henry Brown"); in a list of clergy, ''the Revv'' is sometimes put before the list of names, especially in the Catholic Church in Britain and Ireland.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive-uat.catholicherald.co.uk/article/6th-june-1947/7/ecclesiastical-and-other-information|title=Ecclesiastical and other information|publisher=The Catholic Herald|date=6 June 1947|access-date=13 October 2018|archive-date=14 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181014053023/http://archive-uat.catholicherald.co.uk/article/6th-june-1947/7/ecclesiastical-and-other-information|url-status=dead}}</ref>
In a unique case, ''the Reverend'' was used to refer to a church consistory, a local administrative body. "The Reverend Coetus" and "the Reverend Assembly" were used to refer to the collective body of local officials during the transformation of the Dutch Reformed Church in the mid-18th century.<ref name="Thompson1882">{{cite book|last=Thompson|first=Henry Post |title=History of the Reformed Church, at Readington, N. J. 1719–1881,|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofreforme00thom|year=1882|publisher=Board of publication of the Reformed church in America|doi=10.7282/T33F4QN7|isbn=1131003942}}</ref>
===Other religions=== The use of the Christian term "Reverend" for the rabbi of a congregation was common in Reform Judaism in the 19th and early 20th centuries; however, the Central Conference of American Rabbis deprecated this usage in 1897.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Silverstein |first1=Alan |title=Alternatives to Assimilation: The Response of Reform Judaism to American Culture, 1840–1930 |date=September 1995 |publisher=UPNE |isbn=978-0-87451-726-2 |page=135 |language=en}}</ref>
The style is also sometimes used by leaders in other religions such as Buddhism.<ref>[https://tricycle.org/author/reverend-earl-ikeda/ "Reverend Earl Ikeda"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211229065352/https://tricycle.org/author/reverend-earl-ikeda/ |date=29 December 2021 }}, ''Tricycle: The Buddhist Review'' website.</ref>{{better citation|date=December 2024}}
==See also== * Ecclesiastical titles and styles * Grace (style) * His Holiness * The Venerable * The Very Reverend
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{wiktionary|Reverend}} {{portal |Christianity}} * {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Reverend |short=x}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reverend}} Category:Ecclesiastical styles Category:Christian clergy