Origins of the Salvation Army (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This revisionist history of the Salvation Army, from its genesis to around 1900, attempts to debunk several myths about the religious sect. Murdoch (history, Univ. of Cincinnati) shows that the Salvation Army's founders, William and Catherine Booth, were heavily influenced by American revivalists and that the army was actually a failure in the London slums from which it had arisen. The author also stresses how William Booth's autocratic control of the organization naturally led to schisms. The author closely examines the evolution of the army's ministry from a strictly evangelistic emphasis to its more practical social services program. His treatment is comparable to another, more localized history, R.G. Moyles's The Blood and Fire in Canada (1977). Murdoch has imbued the army's saga with the fervor and intrigue of its proponents to create a balanced, well-researched, yet intriguing history. Recommended for all adult collections.
Jonathan Jeffrey, Western Kentucky Univ., Bowling Green
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

In a fascinating and thoroughly documented social history of the origins of the Salvation Army, Murdoch focuses on the founders, William and Catherine Booth, and their remarkable ability to speak both the religious and social languages of the Victorian Age. He traces their work from revivalist roots imported to Britain by American evangelists in the middle of the nineteenth century, whose purpose was to aid the urban poor. Murdoch's is a critical history, an appreciative account of the Booths' contributions that is also a painstakingly clear description of the failure to convert the urban masses to the Wesleyan gospel of nineteenth-century revivalism. The book is relevant not only to those with specific interest in Salvation Army history, but also to those with more general interests in the social history of Victorian England, the interrelationship of religious and social movements in the Anglo-American world of the nineteenth century, the interrelationship of Christian evangelicalism and Anglo-American imperialism, and the relationship between theological and social dimensions of religious organizations. Recent political and religious developments in the U.S. make this case study of the transformation of an urban revivalist mission into a movement that is also explicitly social and political particularly timely. Steve Schroeder --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: University of Tennessee Press (August 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0870499556
• ISBN-13: 978-0870499555
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,310,531 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Even-handed, gentle tempered critique, August 27, 2001

By	Robert H. Nunnally Jr. "gurdonark" (Allen, TX United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The Salvation Army in the United States has galvanized into an incredibly successful fund-raising and social work organization. Murdoch's work explores the historic origins of its social justice mission. His portrayal of the Booths, the husband and wife team who founded the Army, is largely sympathetic if sometimes critical. His thesis throughout this book, convincingly demonstrated, is that the Salvation Army's social work among the urban poor was not an outgrowth of successful evangelical work among these folks, but instead a substitute in light of a ministry that consistently succeeded among suburban English Methodists rather than those in the most impoverished parts of London. Murdoch creditably seeks to distance himself from the Salvation Army apologist biographers, yet a few of his own images--Ms. Booth preaching in the West End while Mr. Booth toils in the East End, seem a bit too literary (albeit sometimes the literary is also the true). Murdoch's treatment of the autocratic, nepotic nature of the early Salvation Army is not heavy-handed, and his appreciation of the Booths' desire to make a difference rather than merely form a denomination is well-portrayed. Throughout this work, the Salvation Army seems an interesting experiment in pure Wesleyanism, leading to unpredicted failures and unlooked for success. This book is a consistently interesting read about a people from a time which, though relatively recent, seems remote now.