Reverend, a title prefixed by courtesy to the name of any clergyman, though “clerk” (clericus) is the legal and strictly proper description of clergymen, and is, in official documents, placed after (as “Reverend” is before) their names.

In the Church of England and the Protestant Episcopal and Roman Catholic churches the title is given to ecclesiastics of the second and third orders, the bishops being styled “right reverend.” In some churches ordained abbesses and prioresses are called “reverend mothers.”

 John M’Clintock and James Strong, “Reverend,” Cyclopædia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature (New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1894), 1075.

Reverend (Lat. reverendus, ‘worthy of being revered’). An epithet of respect applied to the clergy since the 15th cent. Since the 17th cent. it has been used as a title prefixed to their names in correspondence. Archbishops and the Bp. of Meath (as the ‘Premier Bp. of Ireland’) are styled ‘Most Reverend’, other bishops ‘Right Reverend’, and deans ‘Very Reverend’. Abbesses, prioresses, and other nuns who have the title of ‘Mother’, are also styled ‘Reverend’ (or sometimes ‘Very Reverend’ or ‘Right Reverend’). The *Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is ‘Right Reverend’. *Carthusian priests are an exception, all except the prior-general being styled not ‘Reverend’ but ‘Venerable’. The legal right of Nonconformists to the title was established by the ‘Keat Case’ in 1876, when a faculty was ordered for the erection of a tombstone on which a *Wesleyan minister was styled ‘Reverend’, the incumbent having previously refused to allow it to be set up.

cent. century.

cent. century.

Bp. Bishop.

Bp. Bishop.

 F. L. Cross and Elizabeth A. Livingstone, eds., The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Oxford;  New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 1403.

I just heard this listening to Chuck Smith the other day at work.  It's on a podcast, I think it's the C2000 series, somewhere in the Psalms.  I can't remember how he got on the topic either, but he said there was nothing to revere about the name "Chuck Smith".  Ironic considering how many folks were at the CC CM when he was there.

I think much has to do with traditions.

I'm to the right of DAL ... 'reverend' is inconceivable and even role tiles are artificial (eg pastor, father, etc). I ended up along the lines of Didache ... beware those who want to park and ask for money. This isn't to suggest I'm right. Only the dead know for sure.  But rejecting the titles and roles sounds disrespectful to most traditions. Egotistical, etc.

DAL said:

Psalm 111:9 contains the word "Reverend" and it applies it to God.  

I had to do a Logos search on this word to find out how many translations use this gloss. I only found it in the ASV, AV, KJV, NKJV family of translations that I own. Interested to find it also in the paraphrase "The Message" in Matthew 23:7.

The translation ring in Bible Word Study for the Hebrew word in KJV reveals some other translations that few pastors would want associated with their character - not a whole lot of pastors want to be introduced as "the terrible Dave Thomas" or "the dreadful Dave Thomas"

My understanding is that Reverend is a style rather than a title, the latter being conferred by an official institution and the former either a style of courtesy when used by others or self-styled when applied to oneself.

In the US, doctors are Doctors because their degree confers upon them the title of Medical Doctor (M.D.). In the UK, however, medical doctors graduate either with the title of Bachelor or, more commonly here in Scotland, Master. Yet everyone in the UK calls them Doctor because that is the traditional style. It is a courtesy title which acknowledges their expertise in a particular field.

As for Reverend, which I am happy to use of clergy/pastors in the same way I am happy to use the days of the week without conferring praise on Norse or Roman deities, I had assumed that the ending "-end" came from a (North?) Germanic root (cf. -ing) indicating that Reverend was someone who worships (God) and leads others in that worship. It seems I may have been incorrect and that it was, like doctors in the UK, more of a courtesy. It would be interesting to see the earliest examples of its usage.

Blessings on you all.

David Thomas said:

DAL said:

Psalm 111:9 contains the word "Reverend" and it applies it to God.  

The translation ring in Bible Word Study for the Hebrew word in KJV reveals some other translations that few pastors would want associated with their character - not a whole lot of pastors want to be introduced as "the terrible Dave Thomas" or "the dreadful Dave Thomas"

Also Psalm 99:3 "thy great and terrible name; for it is holy." Daniel 9:4 "the great and dreadful God." Nehemiah 1:5 "the great and terrible God."

Who is like God?

That's the thing about God. He doesn't have to come across as cool or hip or anything.

We can humble ourselves and exalt Him, or He can humble us.

From Wikipedia:

It is the gerundive or future passive participle of the verb revereri ("to respect; to revere"), meaning "[one who is] to be revered/must be respected".

From what I remember about my Latin classes, there's no way to give this an "active" meaning (the one who reveres). The one who reveres would be something like "Reverens", not "Referend".

I have to agree with DAL here...

Josh Hunt said:

I prefer just to be called by my first name. 

[:)]

"Doctor" is not a legally protected title unlike "Nurse" so that anyone can call themselves "Doctor" although they may not hold themselves out to be medically qualified. One of the most famous Doctors in history, Doctor Samuel Johnston, the lexicographer only had an honorary doctorate. Bearing in mind that the word comes from the Latin "docere" meaning to teach, then, surely it should be teachers and not medical practitioners who should enjoy the title.

No reference to it beyond the mention in the mention in the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church even an internet search turned up very little on it.

-dan

You can use the Google Books Ngram Viewer to see usage of words over time in Google Books.  I think they start their tracking at 1800.  This is the link for "reverend" and "Reverend".  Has some limitations. 

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Reverend%2C+reverend&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2CReverend%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Creverend%3B%2Cc0

You can see a trend here. 

Dan Francis said:

Reverend, a title prefixed by courtesy to the name of any clergyman, though “clerk” (clericus) is the legal and strictly proper description of clergymen, and is, in official documents, placed after (as “Reverend” is before) their names. ...

I get the feeling 'clergy' is becoming the gotcha for mandated reporting.

It is actually the Keet case. Keet v Smith and you can find all the details at <www. bailii.org> which gives details of loads of legal cases.