Set Apart In Christ

I recently sent this to the President and Vice-President of the International Doctrine Council. I have received a response (which I won't publish because it's not my place to). Rather, I publish my letter here to continue the discussion with others who may be interested. ___________________ The issue of the sacraments and sacramentality in The Salvation Army is one that has interested me for a number of years. When given the opportunity to choose a topic for my honours dissertation in 2007 it was a relatively easy choice to make. At the time I wanted to consider the often asked question “Why don’t we practise that?” alongside its rarely asked correlate “But why do we practise this?”  The conclusion of my research was that we are indeed a sacramental people, something that was affirmed well in Salvation Story , [1] but our expression of this sacramentality was new in terms of church history. I used the term “neosacramentality” to describe this. [2] Whilst I would sugges...

This is a kind of postscript to my recent series on Salvation Army Sacramental Theology (which starts here ). I want to provide a selection of quotes about Christ's words of institution - "Do this in remembrance of me" (1 Cor 11:24). These are taken from a particular commentary (which will be revealed shortly) because I find them… well… ironic. Not because of what they say, but simply because of where they have been printed. More on that in a moment. For, now, here are the quotes...

This post follows on from Part   One ,   Two ,   Three , and Four   in a series on The Salvation Army's position regarding the sacraments. This will be the final post in this series. I start with a few cautions for us to consider. The "Prophetic" calling of The Salvation Army - Of late there has been a particular emphasis on our "Testimonial" role on the possibility of a Christian life lived "without sacramental ritual". The big questions for any prophet are (a) are you really saying what God wants you to say, and is that supported by Scripture, and (b) what evidence do you have to support such claims. In response to (a) there is probably more support for an observant position than a non-observant one, and for (b) there have not been any other denominations adopt a stance. Sure, they respect us and admire us, but no one's joining us. Our prophetic role is either ineffectual, or needs closer scrutiny. Who's decision was this? James Pedlar h...

This post follows on from Part One , Two and Three in a series on The Salvation Army's position regarding the sacraments. In the last post I summarised the commonly stated reasons for the Army's non-observant stance. I've not gone into much detail for a couple of reasons. Firstly, this ground has been very well trodden by several other authors and so I don't see much benefit in travelling the same ground again. Secondly, and more importantly for me, I'd rather focus upon   the rites that are  a part of our worship. This is more often than not a significant omission in discussions regarding the place of the sacraments in The Salvation Army. This is what I'd like to discuss in this next installment. Firstly, though, a story...

This post is a continuation from Parts One and Two  in a series covering The Salvation Army's  position regarding the sacraments. In this post we summarise the explanations commonly given for both the original decision, and for the Army's choice to maintain it's non-observing stance. This is based on research I did for my Honours dissertation, where I listed these reasons under seven headings. I've subsequently added an eighth, for reasons I think will become clear. Here they are, in no particular order.

This post is a continuation from Part 1 on The Salvation Army's position regarding the sacraments. In this post we consider the decision itself, as it was found in the War Cry of 17th January, 1883. It was, just prior to this date, William Booth's New Year's address, perhaps suggesting that this was the mark of a new phase in the Army's life; a kind of New Year's resolution, if you will. The original article has been reprinted and made available again in Robert Street's   Called to be God's People  (Pg 135).

A distinctive part of The Salvation Army's self-understanding has been the decision taken to discontinue practising the dominical sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist in any form within Army worship. This decision was made by William Booth and published in the War Cry of 17th January of 1883, and means that, along with the Society of Friends (Quakers), the Army is one of two denominations to take this stance officially. Many others in practice share this position by virtue of the infrequency of their partaking of the sacraments.