Sacraments and the Salvation Army

Book excerpt: The emergence of the Salvation Army within the context of Victorian England was theologically a part of the late nineteenth century holiness revival. This book examines the historical and theological influences on William Booth's decision to abandon sacramental practice (1883), and investigates the relationship between the Salvation Army's pneumatology and its non-sacramental theology. By placing the theology of the early Salvation Army in the context of Victorian society, the Wesleyan revival, and the nineteenth century holiness movement, the author interprets Booth's non-sacramental position as the subordination of ecclesiological and sacramental concerns to pneumatological priorities.