Marching as to War - A look at some defining characteristics of The Salvation Army

INTRODUCTION

The modern day Protestant Church is an extremely diverse organism.  With a spectrum that ranges from the highly liturgical styles of Anglicanism to the most free-flowing forms of Pentecostalism, the Protestant landscape has evolved over the past half-millennium into a veritable smorgasbord of religious expression.  Within the last hundred and fifty years, there has arisen one particular denomination whose particulars and peculiarities make it radically different from the rest, even within the evangelical holiness denominational family.  With their distinctive dress, brass band accompanied music, and a woman at their helm, The Salvation Army has grown from a small evangelical movement in the East London slums to a world-wide movement, an army storming the gates of Hell with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

As an evangelical church with a largely Wesleyan/Armenian theology, The Salvation Army’s doctrinal stances are very similar to others in the Wesleyan denominational family.  Sometimes classified as a “radical” holiness denomination, they have traditionally emphasized a personal experience of consecration, spiritual power, and a dedication to arduous work.[1]  There are, however, several distinctive features that set them apart as a denomination.  Among these are their connection to the working class, the position and ordination of women within the church, and their music.  All of these are deeply ingrained in the fiber of The Salvation Army, and all have historical links to William Booth’s early vision of ministry to the “wretched masses” of society.

WORKING CLASS ARMY

The Salvation Army found its greatest success among the working class and the poor.  .  In America, “middle-class Protestants fretted that "'[t]he faith on which the nation was founded . . . has almost no place among the working-class."[2]   In an era where much of the lower echelon of English and American society were disengaged with the Church, this new movement, “combined the culture of the saloon and music hall with a camp-meeting style and took it into the streets, where it successfully marketed itself and its religion to working-class men and women.”[3]  What had begun in London as an urban home mission stormed the beachhead of America in 1879 and developed into a working-class revivalist institution.  The Salvation Army was much more than the gospel welfare movement that many stereotype it as today, it was “a working-class religious institution.”[4]  In stark contrast to the stiff ecclesiology of many mainline nineteenth century denominations, The Salvation Army was predominantly a group of working-class ministers reaching out to working-class people through working-class mediums such as saloon-style music, energetic forms of worship and social concern.  Where some in the past had worked to cross class barriers, reaching out to the poor with gospel, The Salvation Army evangelized not only to the working-class, but from within it.  Their Wesleyan roots, which emphasized not only a freedom from sinful acts, but also from sinful motives, was revived in mid-eighteenth century Methodism by evangelist Phoebe Palmer, and were critical to a vibrant Christian witness.  William Booth once wrote,

The purity and uprightness of [one's] outward conduct," wrote General Booth, was a public demonstration of one's salvation. "People will say, 'let us see the proofs of it [salvation] in his daily life'; and if they do not, they will conclude that he is either mistaken, or a willful deceiver.[5]

This link between inward conversion and outward holiness was a consistent theme in their meetings, which often resembles “a cross between a minstrel show and a religious service.”[6]  Though a perceived irreverence in their services was objected to by many, they had a way of attracting the very class of people that had, before the Army’s arrival, felt alienated by the propriety of the mainline denominations.  The Salvation Army, rather than attempting to “polish up” their image, wore it as a badge of honor.  A story recounted by Lillian Taiz captured well the Army’s opinion on such matters.   She wrote:

After a meeting that had been held in a rented church, a distressed church official pulled the Salvation Army officer aside and took him over to a spot where some of the "usual crowd" had been chewing tobacco and spitting on the floor. "I could almost cry to see this," said the church warden, "never has such a thing occurred in this church before." Wrote the officer, "Of course I felt sorry for the man, and sorry for the carpet, and equally sorry for the man who had given the cause for complaint, but I could not help making a note of the inference, that the Salvation Army is the place where tobacco chewers do come, and are welcomed too.”[7]

            This inherent connection to the working class and the poor has served the Army well as it has grown.  In 1880, the year after The Salvation Army arrived in America, it reported corps (congregations) in three cities, 16 officers (clergy), and 412 soldiers (lay members).  By the turn of the century, there were over 2,500 officers and more than 25,000 soldiers in nearly 50 corps across the nation.[8]

SHALL WOMEN PREACH?

            One feature of Salvation Army practice that stands out among other Christian denominations is their stance on the position of women.  From its very inception, The Salvation Army’s theology and practices were shaped not only by its founder, but by his wife, Catherine (Mumford) Booth.  This theology of women in ministry has shaped the Army in such a way that women have not only been a vital part of its clergy, but have occupied to the rank of General (the international leader of The Salvation Army) three times in its history.  In fact, William Booth’s own daughter, Evangeline, was the fourth person to occupy the office, from 1934-1939.  In the nineteenth century, an era when women in any profession were uncommon, the influence of Catherine Booth paved the way for thousands of female women and evangelists in the Army’s ranks.

            Catherine Booth (who became lovingly known as the mother of The Salvation Army) was described by biographer Minnie Lindsay Carpenter (wife of the Army’s fourth general) a one who even as a youth was 

earnestly seeking and joyously finding Salvation: as delicate girl, giving herself to the study of the Bible and other serious literature; as a young woman, with powerful, clear-thinking mind, forming noble and exciting ideals of Christian life and warfare; as fiancée raising high standards of life and conduct for a minister of the Gospel; as wife and mother with one passion – to know and do the will of God.[9]

Catherine’s reading and contemplations led her to have very strong theological stances at a rather early age, well before her marriage to William.  Women’s suffrage in England was in full-swing as Catherine was developing her theology and, though women would soon be able to vote, “This did not, however, extend to voting within the Church, where clergy were adamant that women’s work be relegated to traditional “Scripture-prescribed” roles.”[10]  The convictions of Catherine, which would eventually lead to a belief that women could and should be permitted to preach, began as a belief that the typical demeaning of women’s intellect that was often preached was neither appropriate nor biblical.  One of the earliest evidences of this stance can be found in an 1850 letter that 21 year-old Catherine wrote to a local Congregationalist minister who had demeaned the morality of women.  “[N]urture, not nature,” Catherine insisted, “crippled the female intellect.”[11]  In writing to her future husband two years later, she wrote:

How can it be expected that a being trained in absolute subjection to the will of another, and taught to consider that subjection her glory, as well as an imbecile dependence on the judgment of others, should at once be able to throw off the trammels of prejudice and sound judgment which are indispensable to the proper discharge of maternal duties? [It is] nothing but improper culture, consequent on the false notions entertained of her nature and vocation. Never till she is valued and educated as man's equal will unions be perfect, and their consequences blissful.”[12]

So, Catherine’s original contention was one regarding the nature of women and their relationship to men, rather than one advocating the appropriateness of their presence in the pulpit.  William, clearly a product of his culture in this respect, responded that an essential difference between men and women was that woman had “a fiber more in her heart and a cell less in her head.”[13]  It is interesting to note at this point that, though they originally had very different ideas about the sexes, historians generally regard their marriage as a love story beyond compare.

           In 1855, Catherine’s argument turned toward women preaching.  Her understanding of Scripture had led her to conclude that women ought not to be relegated to support roles in the church, but that they possessed the intellectual ability as well as the scriptural mandate to preach the good news of salvation.  This shift in emphasis appears to have been prompted, at least in part, by the powerful testimony of American evangelist Phoebe Palmer.  Palmer, who travelled with her husband, Dr. Walter Palmer, was a teetotaler like Catherine, whose stance on abstinence and belief that alcohol was “the devil in a bottle” resonated with Catherine.  But her testimonies resonated even more.  The Palmers’ traveling ministry meetings would begin with Dr. Palmer reading from the Bible, then the local preacher delivering a sermon.  Following this, Phoebe would give a powerful testimony (she did this from the communion-rail so as not to appear to be preaching) followed by an invitation for sinners to present and accept the radical transformation of life offered by the gospel.[14]  After hearing the Palmers, Catherine was prompted to write a letter of rebuke a local minister who had denounced the Palmers’ practices (particularly those of Mrs. Palmer).  

This letter was later expanded and published in a 32 page pamphlet by William under the title, Female Ministry; or, Woman's Right to Preach the Gospel.[15]  In this pamphlet, it was argued that Scripture did not prohibit the preaching of the gospel by women, as was the traditional view.  Rather, Catherine contended, it was endorsed.[16]  Several points were made that would influence Salvation Army theology and practice from that point forward.  The topic was addressed both in “correction” of earlier views on scriptures that supposedly prohibited female preaching and in advocacy by citing scriptures that she felt specifically endorsed the practice.  In the first place, it was argued that Paul’s admonition against the speaking of women in church [17] referred only to an “improper kind of speech.”[18]  To support this, she asserted that the word lalein that Paul used in this verse held this meaning, which ought not to be confused with a prohibition on prophesying.[19]  As to Paul’s instructions in 2 Timothy 2:12-13, Catherine said that this section was addressing the position of a woman’s “personal behavior at home” rather than within the church itself.[20]  The typical understanding of Paul in these sections, said Catherine, was “out of step with the bulk of his other work, as well as with the totality of the teaching of scripture.”[21]  To the point of the scriptures advocacy of women preaching, Catherine cited both the Old and New Testaments as being in support of her cause.  The prophet Joel, she was quick to point out, said that “your sons and daughters shall prophesy,”[22] and Paul said that in “Christ Jesus there is neither bond nor free, male nor female, but ye are all one in Christ Jesus,”[23] indicating that such distinctions between the sexes are irrelevant in the Church.  She went on to point out examples within the Old Testament of women in public ministry, and used Susannah Wesley’s preaching as a poignant modern-day example.[24]

The early Salvation Army placed great stock in Catherine Booth’s interpretation of scripture, and it still does as General Linda Bond leads the church currently.

SALVATION ARMY MUSIC

One area that researchers often take little notice of is the peculiarity and significance of The Salvation Army’s music.  The music produced and compiled for worship in the Army highlights the flexibility of the organization and serves as a doctrinal treatise and devotional for members and adherents. 

Music has been a significant factor in Salvation Army life and worship since the movement’s inception, and in 1899, after The Christian Mission changed its name to The Salvation Army, Salvation Army Songs was published as a consolidation of the hymns in the Mission’s hymnbook and ones that had been previously distributed in smaller pamphlets.  The writing of Salvationists had become so prolific by this time that there were over 10,000 songs considered for inclusion in the Army’s official hymnal.  The Songbook was revised several times, and the most recent American Edition, published in 1986, contains 994 songs and 251 supplemental choruses.  As a hymn book, The Song Book of The Salvation Army has some features that are rather unique, and serve as reminders of their philosophy and denominational style.  Designed with the words to the songs printed without musical notes (an exception to this is the American Supplement at the back of American editions), the layout includes suggestions for possible tunes for each, along with a metrical notation which corresponds to an index at the back of the book.  Here, one can find a number of tunes that are arranged in such a way to fit the words to a particular song.  As an example, in the 1986 American Edition, the song O Boundless Salvation, written by the Army’s founder William Booth, lists three suggested tunes along with their corresponding numbers in a separate book used by the band, to which we will turn later.  Then, the metrical indicator, 11.11.11.11 yields an additional twenty-seven tunes whose rhythmic pattern will fit the poetic rhyme and meter of the lyrics.  This peculiar feature is no accident, nor is it simply representative of the whimsical flair of the book’s editors.  Rather, it is representative of the movement’s aim of bringing the gospel to the masses and breaking down the traditional intellectual barriers that was so prevalent in the high churches of England that operated at the time.  Much of the Army’s ministry was in slums and taverns among people who had no exposure to church music, but were familiar with the popular tunes of the day.  In much the same way that Charles Wesley had done before him (for Booth was a Methodist and profoundly influenced by both John and Charles Wesley) Booth and his Army utilized the popular music of the day to draw the common man to worship and help him to feel at home.  The flexibility of having multiple tunes to the songs allowed the preacher or song leader to introduce spiritual lyrics in a setting that was comfortable to the congregation. 

Much of The Salvation Army’s theology can be found in its songs.  With many of them composed by their own members, they preach the gospel of Christ and the message of Christian holiness in a manner that reflects the Army’s passion and quasi-military flair well.  Consider, for example, the words to Victory for Me, written by William Booth’s third son, Herbert Howard Booth:

No retreating, Hell defeating, shoulder to shoulder we stand.
            God look down, with glory crown our conquering band.
            Victory for me through the blood of Christ, my Saviour[sic];
            Victory for me through the precious blood.[25]

The hymnody of the Army is replete with these militaristic battle cries, encouraging the “Salvation Soldier,” as the Army’s members came to be called, to actively engage in battle with the enemy.  Like it, the hymn Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus, written by Presbyterian George Duffield, encourages the soldiers in battle.  Its opening verse reads,

            Stand up, stand up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the cross!
            Lift high his royal banner, it must not suffer loss.
            From victory unto victory His army he shall lead
            ‘Till every foe is vanquished, And Christ is Lord indeed.[26]

            Though the songs that appear in the modern songbook are generally refined in style and theology, some of the earlier tunes were more casual, even bordering on the whimsical.  An early song, contributed by an Adjutant Smith serves as a good example.  Its lyrics recount the conversion of “Ash-barrel Jimmy: The First Salvation Army Convert in America,” and read as follows:

Once I was a Water street bum, full all the time with five-cent rum,
The devil had me under his thumb.  When I was in his Army,
Oh! yes he had me in his grip. I cared for nothing but a nip,
I down the road to hell did slip, in the damnation Army.
Chorus :
But now my sins are washed away, are washed away, are washed away,
I'm fighting for Jesus night and day, in the Salvation Army[27]

These songs were often sung in a raucous, less-than-melodic style in early Salvation Army tent meetings, where the focus was more on winning converts and giving testimonies to the saving power of Christ than to sheer musicality.  An article in a Chicago newspaper captured the mood well:

The blare of the trumpet, the "umtra-umtra" of the trombone, and the "biff biff boom" of a particularly corpulent bass drum filled the auditorium . . . with a delirious uproar last night, shook the rafters, and set the windows rattling like a grip car off the track. Melody got twisted into weird noises resembling the blended symphony that the lonely donkey sings at the moon, the Wagnerian strains evoked from a battered tin-pan by a small boy and the soul-stirring agony of a violin student's first attempt.[28]

The fact that this article was reprinted in The Salvation Army’s national magazine, The War Cry, further shows that the movement had no problem with the perceived propriety of their gatherings, provided the Spirit of God was moving.  This connection between The Salvation Army’s music, their theology, and their identity is very fitting.  After all, what’s an army without a band?

CONCLUSION

The Salvation Army’s connection to the working class, their perspective on the position of women within the church, and their music make them easily recognizable within the landscape of modern-day Protestantism.  These features are not only distinctive, but tie back intimately to the founding of the movement by William Booth nearly one hundred and fifty years ago.  Today, they continue to take his message of soup, soap, and salvation to all who will hear. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Anderson, Cora. 1990. "Shall women preach : Principles and practices in the Salvation Army and in the Method  ist Church in Ontario 1882-1900." Conrad Grebel Review 8, no. 3: 275-288. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed October 4, 2012).

Carpenter, Minnie Lindsay Rowell. Women of the Flag. London: Salvationist Pub. and Supplies, 1945.

Green, Roger J. The Life & Ministry of William Booth: Founder of the Salvation Army. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2006.

Hattersley, Roy. Blood & Fire: William and Catherine Booth and Their Salvation Army. New York, NY: Doubleday, 2000.

McGrath, Alister Christianity's Dangerous Idea: the Protestant Revolution--a History from the Sixteenth Century to the Twenty-First. Reprint ed. Boston, Ma: HarperOne, 2008.

Murdoch, Norman H. "Female ministry in the thought and work of Catherine Booth." Church History 53, no. 3 (September 1, 1984): 348-362. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed October 4, 2012).

Taiz, Lillian. 1997. "Applying the Devil's Works in a Holy Cause : Working-Class Popular Culture and the Salvation Army in the United States, 1879-1900." Religion And American Culture 7, no. 2: 195-223. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed October 4, 2012)

Taylor, Gordon. "Sing Hallelujah." Salvationist, February 26, 2011, 14. http://archive.salvationarmy.org.uk/uki/www_uki.nsf/0/1D21294522B71AFF8025789500541637/$file/Salvationist 26 Feb 2011.pdf (accessed October 6, 2012).

The Song Book of The Salvation Army. American Ed. Verona, NJ: The Salvation Army National Headquarters, 1987.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES CONSULTED

Bailey, Carolyn J R. 2010. "The Salvation Army and the United Nations -- being good neighbors." Cross Currents 60, no. 3: 352-367. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed October 4, 2012).

Eason, Andrew. "The Salvation Army and the sacraments in Victorian Britain: retracing the steps to non-observance." Fides Et Historia 41, no. 2 (June 1, 2009): 51-71. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed October 4, 2012).

González, Justo L. The Story of Christianity Volume Two: The Reformation to the Present Day. Kindle Ed. San Francisco: HarperOne, 1985.

Hazzard, John W. 1998. "Marching on the Margins : An Analysis of the Salvation Army in the United States." Review Of Religious Research 40, no. 2: 121-141. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed October 4, 2012).

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[1] Lillian Taiz, Applying the Devil's Works in a Holy Cause : Working-Class Popular Culture and the Salvation Army in the United States, 1879-1900, Religion and American Culture 7, Summer 1997, 199.

[2] Taiz, Applying the Devil’s Works, 197.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Taiz, Applying the Devil’s Works, 196.

[5] Ibid., 200.

[6] Ibid., 202.

[7] Taiz, Applying the Devil’s Works, 205.

[8] Ibid., 197-198.

[9] Minnie Lindsay Carpenter, Women of the Flag (London: Salvationist Publishing and Supplies, Ltd., 1945), 5-6.

[10] Cora Anderson, Shall women preach: Principles and practices in the Salvation Army and in the Methodist Church in Ontario 1882-1900, Conrad Grebel Review 8, 1990, 175.

[11] Norman H. Murdoch, Female Ministry in the Thought and Work of Catherine Booth, Church History 53, September 1, 1984, 349.

[12] Ibid., 350.

[13] Ibid.

[14] Roy Hattersley, Blood & Fire: William and Catherine Booth and Their Salvation Army (New York: Doubleday, 2000), 103-104.

[15] Anderson, Shall Women Preach, 277.

[16] Ibid.

[17] 1 Corinthians 14:34-35.

[18] Anderson, Shall Women Preach, 277.

[19] Murdoch, Female Ministry, 353.

[20] Anderson, Shall Women Preach, 288.

[21] Murdoch, Female Ministry, 353.

[22] Ibid., and Joel 2:28.

[23] Galatians 3:28.

[24] Anderson, Shall Women Preach, 278.

[25] Herbert Howard Booth, Victory For Me, in The Song Book of The Salvation Army (Verona, NJ: The Salvation Army National Headquarters, 1987), 193.

[26] George Duffield, Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus, in The Song Book of The Salvation Army (Verona, NJ: The Salvation Army National Headquarters, 1987), 192.

[27] Taiz, Applying the Devil’s Work, 206.

[28] Taiz, Applying the Devil’s Work, 206.