A contemporary Protestant philanthropic-religious organization. It is called an Army because its structure, vocabulary, spirit of conquest and even the obedience required of its members are those of a military organization. Its chapels are citadels, its evangelization posts are called outposts, and converts are prisoners. The organization of personnel is modeled on the nomenclature of the British army. Its basic nucleus is the Corps, led by an officer whose rank rises from Lieutenant to Brigadier. Several of these units make up a division, headed by a Divisional Commander. Several divisions constitute a territory under a Colonel. The worldwide organization is under the command of the General-in-chief of the S. A. The founders denied that they constitute a church in the proper sense of the word. Their publications do not speak of the number of new members added to their organization or of the annual growth of their followers. They are content to convert sinners without immediately concerning themselves with those who enlist in their ranks as active members of the movement. For the latter, however, the Salvation Army becomes their only church. They believe in its doctrines, practice its rites, accept its watchwords under oath, work tirelessly in its service, abandoning all the Christianity of their former life, as well as the reception of the sacraments to which they had been accustomed. For all these reasons, confessiology (v.) does not hesitate to classify the S. A. among the communities derived from the Reformation (v.).
History
It was born in England during the second half of the 19th c. as a consequence of the socioeconomic situation brought upon the country and the world by the Industrial Revolution. From the religious angle, it should be considered a new offshoot of Methodism (v.) and of the perfectionist movements and holiness sects (v.). William Booth, its founder, b. in Nottingham on Apr. 10, 1809, came from a nominally Anglican family of good standing, but one that had fallen on hard times. He could not continue his studies because he had to work to support his family. At the suggestion of a relative, William began to take an interest in Methodism. At the age of 15, while walking down the street, “the Spirit took possession of his soul, creating in it a great thirst for a new life” and turning him into a preacher of the Gospel. Having moved to London, he devoted himself to preaching and to helping the crowded masses of the East End as a member of the Methodist branch of the New Connexion. Ordained a Methodist minister and married on Jun. 15, 1855 to the fervent young Catherine Mumford, he directed a rural parish for some time. But in 1861, rejecting an attractive offer from his church and in a heroic act of faith, the Booths decided to give their lives to the apostolate among the helpless people of the great city. “Tonight,” William said to his wife, “as I passed in front of a tavern, I heard a voice saying to me: where are you going to find people more pagan or more in need of help than here? At that very moment I offered myself to God, I offered you and our children for this great task. These shall henceforth be our children, and we shall work so that our God may also be theirs.” Collaborators soon joined him, and the recent enterprise received the name Christian Mission, dedicated to bringing “the gospel of salvation through changed lives to the abandoned masses.” The work soon achieved enormous popularity. In 1870 Booth gathered his followers in assembly, drafted constitutions and founded new centers in various parts of the nation. The following year his magazine War Cry announced to its readers the birth of a Salvation Army, destined to bring to the world of the poor “the Blood of Christ and the Fire of the Holy Spirit.” Anglicanism (v.) made an effort to include the movement within one of its apostolic bodies, but without result: Booth’s theology of abrupt conversion, the technique of his propaganda, and his elimination of sacramental and liturgical life were incompatible with the doctrines and life of the established church. The S. A. advanced rapidly through England and the rest of Europe. In 1880 its envoys arrived in the United States, making the movement a great religious force in that country. Crossing the Rio Grande, Booth’s disciples passed into Ibero-America, where they work in all its republics. They have accompanied Protestant missionaries in their overseas enterprises and operate in all the great cities of Asia, Africa and Australia. The founder d. on Aug. 12, 1912, at the age of 82, after having received the highest honorary distinctions.
Philanthropic Work
It is varied and concentrates on the neediest sectors of the population. It includes shelters for the poor, wanderers and drunkards; soup kitchens; inexpensive lodgings for workers of both sexes; information and job-search offices for the unemployed; maternity homes for unmarried women; shelters for prisoners entrusted to its care by the justice system on a probationary basis until they can find employment; refuges for women of public life; youth institutions for delinquent boys; orphanages; camps for children and young people, etc. They also carry out systematic work of visitation and material assistance in prisons, in concentration camps and on battle fronts.
Apostolic Method
The philanthropic work is completed, when possible, by preaching in the streets and public squares or in their own chapels. To achieve the conversion of their listeners they make use of the reading of those biblical passages that speak of God’s mercy, of abundant moving examples concerning the evils brought about, even in the present life, by the vices in which they live sunk, of ardent exhortations to leave them behind and begin a life of peace for themselves and their families, etc. Famous are the penitents’ benches in their chapels, from which those who, repentant, wish to obtain forgiveness go forward toward the altar. Not all Protestant confessions look favorably on the method, but Salvationists insist on its effectiveness for the emotional conversion they seek, the only one that can impress the people with whom they deal. Conversion is not an end in itself but a stage directed toward making the converted into apostles for the conversion of others. There are no statistics proving how many of those converts later go on to swell the ranks of active propagandists. But it is certain that their nearly 110,000 members employed in about a hundred countries cherish these ideals and put them into practice in their work.
Doctrine
Theologically the S. A. depends on Methodism. Rejecting Calvinist predestinationism, it teaches that man’s salvation is: universal, to the point that even pagans enjoy the benefits of Christ’s redemption without hearing the message of the Gospel; free, in the sense that man can accept or reject the divine invitation; complete, since it leads the penitent not only to justification but also to perfection and sanctification; and, finally, assured, since the recipient of grace cannot doubt his salvation for an instant. On other points it has aligned itself with fundamentalism (v.) in the profession of the basic truths of the faith: literal inspiration of the whole Bible (v.), confession of the mystery of the Trinity (v.), of the virginal birth of Christ (v.), of his divinity, miracles (v.), bodily resurrection (v.), ascension (v.) into heaven and second coming (V. PAROUSIA). By contrast, the S. A. does not insist on the imminent end of the world (v. MILLENARIANISM II). In soteriology its doctrines follow the Arminian line (V. ARMINIUS) instead of adopting the more common Protestant theory concerning the vicarious value of Christ’s death in relation to man’s salvation. Its concept of justification (v.) somewhat approaches that of the Catholic Church and strongly insists on repentance (“sincere determination to reject sin, obey God, desire forgiveness and make satisfaction for it as far as possible”), but it leaves faith in a secondary place. Where the S. A. appears more radical than the rest of Protestantism is in the field of ecclesiology and the sacraments. The idea of Church is completely absent from its statutes. The same occurs with the sacraments. Regarding baptism, they think that Christ “did not intend to impose on the entire world the obligation to receive it.” The suppression of the Eucharist is based “on Saint John’s silence about its institution.” In addition, they fear that the reception of sacraments may provide the soul with an “assurance of salvation” incompatible with the doctrines of repentance and conversion that they preach. To think that a puritanism of customs (abstention from games, amusements, tobacco, alcoholic beverages and even zeal for the temporal and spiritual welfare of one’s neighbor) can replace those means willed by Christ for the sanctification of his own is one of the clearest objections that can be made to the S. A. and one on which its theological weakness most depends.
BIBL.: K. ALCERMISSEN, Catholic Church and Christian Confessions, Madrid 1964, 1168-1185; W. BOOTH, In Darkest England and The Way Out, London 1890; ID., Regulations for Field Officers, London 1925; ID., Orders and Regulations for Field Soldiers, London 1927; ID., The Salvation Army Handbook of Doctrines, London 1955; H. BEGLIE, William Booth, Founder of the Salvation Army, New York 1920; R. SANDALL, History of the Salvation Army, 3 vol., 12th ed. London 1959.
Author: Prudencio Damboriena
Source: Gran Enciclopedia Rialp.
