1 of 5

William Booth is popularly known as a nineteenth-century English social reformer, but this aspect of his later ministry does not sufficiently explain him. To fully understand him and The Salvation Army, it is necessary to grasp his theology of redemption (much of which was shared by his wife, Catherine), and the elements that gave rise to it.

Three forces shaped the life, ministry, and thinking of the first General of The Salvation Army.

Wesleyan distinctives. First, William Booth was evangelical. His loyalties were, nevertheless, not only to the broad evangelical tradition of Victorian England that had crossed denominational lines, but also more specifically to Wesleyan distinctives.

Beginning with his early associations with the Wesleyans (under whose ministry he was converted in 1844, at age 15), and continuing throughout his life, William Booth had a great appreciation for John Wesley. “I worshipped everything that bore the name of Methodist,” he wrote. “To me there was one God, and John Wesley was his prophet. I had devoured the story of his life. No human compositions seemed to me to be comparable to his writings, and to the hymns of his brother Charles, and all that was wanted, in my estimation, for the salvation of the world was the faithful carrying into practice of the letter and the spirit of his instructions.”

Booth preached a doctrine of redemption that included not only salvation by grace, but also the distinctive Wesleyan doctrine of sanctification by grace. For this he had the examples of such people as American revivalist Charles Grandison Finney and American Methodists James Caughey and Phoebe Palmer. Booth likewise considered himself a worthy successor to John Wesley in principles of organization, and there is no question that Booth acquired organizational and administrative gifts.

Urban England. Booth developed his theology in urban England. He experienced poverty in his childhood, and he knew the insufferable misery and deprivation that were the dark side of the Industrial Revolution. After living in Nottingham for twenty years, he moved to London in 1849, and his theology took shape as he attempted to comprehend how he could reach the urban masses with the gospel. His ministry was finally focused in 1865 as he and his wife of ten years founded The East London Christian Revival Union, the forerunner of The Salvation Army.

Ministerial associations. Lastly, Booth’s theology was influenced by his various associations and tasks up to 1865. As an evangelical revivalistic preacher—from 1849 to 1861 with both the Wesleyans and with New Connexion Methodism, and from 1861 to 1865 in an independent ministry—Booth’s theology was articulated in terms of personal conversion and personal sanctification. It was later, especially after the inception of The Salvation Army in 1878, that noticeable changes entered his theology. Booth continued to preach salvation and sanctification for the individual, but he broadened his doctrine of redemption to include corporate sanctification, social salvation, and even the redemption of the whole world with the establishment of the Millennium.

From these shaping forces emerged a theology. One word summarizes the theology of both William and Catherine Booth: redemption. That redemptive theology included three interwoven aspects: sanctification, the kingdom of God, and salvation.

First, William Booth preached the Wesleyan doctrine of sanctification. Basically, this doctrine taught that a person’s redemption begins with justification by faith. From that moment, the believer begins to grow in God’s grace until, by faith, he or she is filled with perfect love and realizes, in the words of Charles Wesley, “that full divine conformity to all my Saviour’s righteous will.” With this perfect love, the believer is freed from both the power of sin and the agony of constant sinning and is, thereby, both purified and empowered for the work of the kingdom. This view was distinct from both the monastic notion (perfection by separation from the world and by good works) and from the Reformed understanding (sanctification continues after justification but is not completed until death). Booth wanted to raise saints as well as convert sinners.

next page... |  1 of 5

share this page

RSS Feed   RSS Help