I’m seeing people posting their ideas about the order of Senator-elect Raphael Warnock’s titles. Prior to the election, he had two titles: Reverend and Doctor. He’s not a medical doctor, but he has a Ph.D. (as well as two master’s degrees) from Union Theological Seminary (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raphael_Warnock). It turns out that the nature of his doctoral degree is relevant to the order of the titles: when the doctorate is related to the religious leadership, the more common order is “Reverend Doctor,” but when it’s not, then “Doctor Reverend” is another option, although Emily Post prefers to keep “reverend” first (https://emilypost.com/advice/professional-titles). Now that he has won his election, the question arises about how to handle his triple titles.

In German, it is not uncommon for highly titled people to preserve all their titles in formal situations, so that they may be addressed as “Frau Doktor Professorin,” “Herr Doktor Professor,” or even “Frau Doktor Doktor” for someone with two doctorate degrees, in English, at least U.S. English, there comes a point when most people say, “Enough already!” As a result, it is most common for senators with two or more titles to use only one at a time. After the initial excitement wears off, many will choose between addressing Georgia’s new triple-titled senator as “Senator Warnock” or “Reverend Dr. Warnock.” If you’re attending his church services on a Sunday, the latter makes sense. If you’re lobbying him, go for the former. Most doctors who become senators go by “Senator” when they’re functioning as politicians. But there are other options which connote greater respect. 

There are a number of senators and former senators who are also physicians, and most of them are usually addressed by only one of their titles. In fact, some senators change titles depending on the impression they want to make. When Rand Paul was running for president in 2015, his campaign website referred to him as “Dr. Rand Paul” in the hopes of inspiring greater trust than Americans usually accord to politicians. Bill Frist also opts for “Dr.” when he wants to establish trust (https://www.politico.com/story/2009/03/honorable-former-lawmakers-mull-title-020181).

Frist also sometimes goes by both titles, and in informal writing, these are hyphenated. People may address or introduce him as “Doctor-Senator” or “Senator-Doctor.” Frist considers “Doctor-Senator” less formal, and usually prefers it, but when he wants greater respect, he opts for “Senator-Doctor” (https://www.politico.com/story/2009/03/honorable-former-lawmakers-mull-title-020181). “Senator Reverend Dr. Warnock” would be the equivalent.

In the U.S., Black people typically receive far less respect than white people, and also far less than they deserve. That alone is a good reason to accord Senator Reverent Dr. Warnock his triple title. The full title here also reinforces the legitimacy of Dr. Jill Biden’s title, earned by completing an Ed.D. program parallel to the Ph.D. program that incoming Senator Reverend Dr. Warnock completed. So triple title it is.