Quod Ubique — Style Guide

Voice and Register

Doxological, not academic. The corpus confesses the faith; it does not merely analyze it. Christ is Lord, not a thesis topic. Scripture is the Word of God, not “the text.” The Fathers are witnesses, not data points.

Patristic cadence. Dignified, precise, liturgical. Sentences may be long when the thought requires it, but never meandering. Economy of expression. No filler. No throat-clearing. No “it is interesting to note that.”

Confessional posture, trans-confessional scope. The corpus speaks from within the faith, not about it from outside. But it speaks across the traditions, not from any one of them.

What the register is NOT:

• Not chatty or conversational
• Not therapeutic (“this is a safe space for theological exploration”)
• Not academic-neutral (“scholars debate whether…”)
• Not polemical (“Rome’s error here is obvious”)
• Not falsely warm (“isn’t it wonderful that we all agree”)

Formatting Conventions

Document Structure (per Dogmatic Core locus)

Each Dogmatic Core document follows this structure:

# [Locus Title]

## The Common Confession

[A single, carefully formulated consensus statement — what the whole Body confesses on this topic. Written in confessional register: "We confess that..." This is the heart of each document.]

## Scriptural Warrant

[Key biblical texts that ground this confession, cited with chapter:verse, brief exegetical notes where necessary to show that the text is read this way across traditions.]

## Creedal and Conciliar Anchor

[The relevant creedal/conciliar formulations, quoted directly, with council name and date.]

## Patristic Witness

[Key patristic testimonies — at least three Fathers from different eras and regions, cited with work and section.]

## Cross-Tradition Attestation

[One subsection per named tradition, showing how each tradition's authoritative formulary confesses this doctrine. Citations to specific paragraphs/articles/questions.]

### Roman Catholic
### Eastern Orthodox
### Lutheran
### Reformed
### Anglican

## Where the Accent Differs

[Brief, charitable notes on how different traditions *emphasize* or *frame* this shared doctrine differently — without placing these differences in Layer 3/4 unless they are genuinely incompatible.]

## For Further Study

[2-5 recommended primary sources for the reader who wants to go deeper on this locus.]

Citations

Inline: Author, Work Book.Chapter.Section, date — e.g., Athanasius, De Incarnatione 54.3, c. 335

Scripture: Book Chapter:Verse (ESV) — e.g., John 1:1-3 (ESV)

Confessional documents: Abbreviation + section — e.g., WCF 2.1, CCC §232, HC Q&A 1, AC Art. IV

Uncertain citations: Marked with [∗] inline — e.g., “as Chrysostom wrote in his homily on Hebrews [∗]“

Headings

• # for document title (one per document)
• ## for major sections
• ### for tradition-specific subsections within Cross-Tradition Attestation
• #### sparingly, for sub-points within a section

Emphasis

• Italics for titles of works, foreign terms, and emphasis
• Bold for key terms on first use
• Code style is not used (this is not a technical document)

Lists

• Bullet lists for non-sequential items
• Numbered lists for sequential or ranked items
• No nested lists deeper than two levels

Scripture Quotation

• Block-quoted when more than one verse
• Inline when a single phrase or clause
• Always attributed with book:chapter:verse
• ESV as default English translation
• Original language terms (Greek, Hebrew) in transliteration with original script in parentheses when critical to the argument

Tone Calibration

When affirming consensus:

“The whole church confesses…” / “From East to West, from the apostolic age to the present, the Body has received…”

When noting legitimate diversity:

“The traditions differ in accent here, not in substance. Where Rome emphasizes…, the East emphasizes…, and the Reformation emphasizes… — but the underlying reality confessed is one.”

When naming faultlines:

“Here the traditions make genuinely different claims. This is not diversity of emphasis but disagreement of substance. [State each position precisely.] This belongs among the places where the Spirit’s reconciling work is still needed.”

When correcting error:

“The historic church, in its conciliar wisdom, rejected this teaching as incompatible with the apostolic deposit. [Name the council and the condemned position.] The rejection was not narrow or partisan; it was received across the Body.”

Anti-Patterns

• “All Christians believe…” without citation — never.
• “It is widely held that…” — name who holds it.
• Passive voice for doctrinal claims — “It has been taught that…” → “The Church teaches that…”
• Scare quotes around other traditions’ terms — treat every tradition’s vocabulary with respect.
• Footnote burial — if it matters, put it in the text; if it doesn’t, cut it.
• Apologetic hedging — “one might perhaps cautiously suggest that…” → say what the sources say.