Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2018 June 19

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June 19

United Methodist Church precursor

The United Methodist Church was formed by the merger of a big Methodist church with a smaller body, the Evangelical United Brethren Church. What was the name of the big church? I always thought it was "The Methodist Church", with an included "The" similar to The New York Times, and this is supported by the 1995 edition of Mead's Handbook of Denominations. However, our article is Methodist Church (USA), not The Methodist Church (USA), and in the body "The" is generally not capitalised. Mead's 2010 edition doesn't capitalise "The". Does "The" appear in other sources? Does anyone have access to official publications from this denomination that would have its full official name? Nyttend (talk) 12:51, 19 June 2018 (UTC)

In the denomenation’s own official publications before the merger with the EUB the name was consistently “The Methodist Church.” Perhaps this was to distinguish it from other “Methodist” denominations such as the Free Methodists, so they were not seen as “just another bunch of Methodists, loosely termed.” When the phrase is used in the article it would seem appropriate to capitalize “The.” But like the article Ohio State University, whose official name is “The Ohio State University,” it is not necessary to include “The” in the article title or in every mention. Manual of style experts can doubtless chime in with rules and precedents. But “The” was clearly part of the denomenation’s self-styled official name before the merger. Edison (talk) 14:17, 19 June 2018 (UTC)

Thank you for the check. How is this different from The Hershey Company (listed in WP:THE as a situation where "the" is appropriate) or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? Nyttend (talk) 14:59, 19 June 2018 (UTC)

When I was working at the head office of a large company we mislaid the file of an important customer. We turned the place upside down looking for it. Eventually the manager found it - the filing clerk (copying from the customer's letterhead) had titled it "The S------ Youth Centre" and filed it under "The".86.132.186.246 (talk) 10:04, 20 June 2018 (UTC)

I am forever adding DEFAULTSORTs to articles titled "The ..." so that they don't end up category sorting under T for The. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 23:46, 20 June 2018 (UTC)