Marching to Glory

The History of the Salvation Army
in the United States, 1880-1992

By Edward H. McKinley
Eerdmans, $24.99

ISBN 0-8028-3761-1

A Look at the Nation's Best-Known Charity

Review by Mark A. Kellner

The Salvation Army is at once well known and an enigma. The Chronicle of Philanthropy consistently has ranked the organization as the nation's "most admired charity," noting its collection of more than one billion dollars each year. Its Christmas kettle campaigns--begun more than a century ago in San Francisco--are legendary, getting a notable boost from first lady Barbara Bush when mall owners brushed kettles aside. And at a disaster such as the 1993 midwest flooding or the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, the Army's disaster canteens and caring officers are often the first to arrive and the last to leave.

But relatively few Americans know that the Salvation Army isn't just an organization specializing in doing good works or redeeming the lost on skid row, that it is "an evangelical part of the Christian church," or that more than 550,000 people in the United States and Canada call the Army their church home.

Less known is the story of the movement's influence on a worldwide basis (its current international leader, American-born General Paul A. Rader, is a nephew and namesake of the famous radio evangelist, not to mention a graduate of Asbury College, Southern Baptist Seminary, and Fuller Theological Seminary) and on American religious, musical, and social life. One book isn't enough to tell the whole story, but one book has arrived to introduce the unfamiliar to a fascinating and vibrant group.

Comprehensive without being choking, and complimentary without becoming condescending, Marching To Glory by Edward H. McKinley, a professor at Asbury College, lives up to its subtitle: A History of The Salvation Army in the United States, 1880-1992. A Salvationist (as church members are called) and a scholar, McKinley starts with the inauspicious arrival of the Army's "forces" in 1880 and traces its growth in tandem with the rambunctious and still-growing nation.

To say that the beginning was inauspicious is an understatement. George Scott Railton, a trusted aide to Army founder William Booth, set foot on the southern tip of Manhattan with seven "Hallelujah lassies," hardly the "fighting force" envisioned by New York's police when advance publicity reached their precincts. Using available time in music halls and old buildings--as well as the open-air singing, preaching, and praying which made Booth's followerers the object of attack in Britain--Railton's foot soldiers built up a following among those whom many mainstream churches had neglected or ignored, those who would be considered the "underclass" in today's lingo.

Dramatic stories of early conversions--recounted ably by McKinley--document the effect the Salvationists' simple message of hope for people who might not usually seek solace in a more formal church. From these "trophies of grace" came some of the Army's first officers (its term for ordained clergy), but it was also from the educated and middle class that the Army's preachers were drawn.

Woven through McKinley's history are stories such as that of Samuel Logan Brengle, a theology student at Boston University whose enthusiasm for The Salvation Army and passion for holiness not only energized the movement but created a strong framework for the holiness movement worldwide. Brengle's books are still classics revered far beyond the Army's halls.

If one personality could be said to dominate the Army's history in this country, it was that of the "Commander," Evangeline Cory Booth. Daughter of the founder, she rescued the Army when it was split over an administrative disput and pioneered its disaster services, wartime assistance to soldiers in the field, and Depression-era aid. "A man might be down, but he's never out," Evangeline declared, riding that philosophy to unprecedented growth and prominence for the Army here, and her own election as General.

The Army has been far from a declining power since Evangeline's day; its churches are growing and adapting to meet the demands of the times.

McKinley, in a masterfully written volume, weaves a tapestry rich in detail, fully footnoted, and well indexed. It will make rewarding reading for those who study church history or who want to see a revealing portrait of this branch of the American church.

Mark A. Kellner has been a Salvationist since 1982, and is the author of God on the Internet.