JAC Online

Salvationist Monasticism
by Cadet Xander Coleman

Medieval Salvationism:

Parallels Between Monasticism and The Salvation Army

There area a few Roman Catholic of high Church monastics, and, whatever I may think of their errors and their mummeries, I always feel a measure of reverence when I pass them.

- Catherine Booth[1]

Salvationism does not often reference monastic traditions amongst its theological influences, yet striking echoes of monasticism resonate in its practice and development.  Catherine Booth described Christianity as a 'community, existing in the midst of another kingdom or community, having its own laws and principles and aims entirely distinct and separate from the world'[2].  This Christian ideal was striven after in both traditions.  In exploring the similarities between monastic spirituality and the practices of The Salvation Army some parallels emerge: both monks and Salvationists take vows and live according to a rule; both have sought to re-discover authentic Christianity in the midst of a popular expression of Christianity which is seen as corrupted; and both have required times of renewal where the ideal of the respective primitive movements are rediscovered.

As the middle ages progressed and the monastic movement gathered momentum, 'monasticism came to be dominated by... rules compiled for communities'[3].  Various Rules were designed to give practical and spiritual advice for righteous living in a monastic community.  They gave form to monastic expressions of spirituality, guiding almost every aspect of monastic life 'by explaining the goals for which [the monk] should strive and the way in which to achieve them'[4].  The Rule of Saint Benedict, written for the monastery at Monte Cassino, dominated the monastic tradition after its composition around 535AD.  Timothy Fry, a Benedictine monk, remarks that Benedict's Rule 'offered definitive direction and established an ordered way of life that gave security and stability'[5].  It ordered what and when the monks ate and drank, what, when and how they prayed, what they wore, when and where they slept, and contained guidance as to the attitude of humble obedience that the monk should adopt.  When someone presented themselves to become a monk, they went through a strict noviciate, following which they took vows of 'stability, fidelity to monastic life, and obedience' to the Rule and the Abbot[6].  These promises are transcribed into a document signed by the novice, who 'with his own hand lays it upon the altar'[7].

Salvationists, too, are inducted through a ceremony involving the making of vows.  After a period of instruction the recruit affirms belief in the Army's doctrines and promises, among other things, to abstain from gambling, pornography, the use of tobacco, alcohol and other drugs.  The Articles of War are signed in an act of consecration at the Holiness Table (the Salvationist correspondent to a church's altar) and the recruit determines, 'by God's help, to be a true soldier of The Salvation Army',[8] thus placing his- or herself under the authority of the Corps Officer and Orders and Regulations for Soldiers of The Salvation Army.  As The Salvation Army expanded there became need for a rule which governed the work of its corps and personnel.  As early as 1886 a printed book of Orders and Regulations for Field Officers was published claiming to contain 'sufficiently complete explanations of the principles and system of The Army, to enable every Officer to get all necessary information as to his duties'[9].  Alongside spiritual exhortations and advice for effective Christian ministry, this rule included detailed instructions for Officers' health, food, exercise, relationships and personal finance[10].  Though recent incarnations of Orders and Regulations for Soldiers no longer order the minutiae of Soldiers' lives, as late as 1950 an Order was published containing instructions such as, 'Food should be simple and nourishing in character'[11].  Nevertheless, Orders and Regulations began as and remains a primarily spiritual guidebook and, like the monastic Rules, explains 'the goals for which' Salvationists 'should strive and the way in which to achieve them'[12].

In many ways, monasticism developed as a yearning after authentic Christianity, which was seen to be watered-down in the widespread contemporary expression[13].  'We appeal to the life of the primitive Church, for what is the monastic life except what was then called the apostolic life?', expressed Peter the Venerable[14].  The spirituality expressed by the majority of Christendom fell short of the Christian ideals evidenced in the New Testament, and the monastic movement aimed to reclaim these ideals.  John Cassian (c. 360-435) was one of the earliest writers to perpetuate the idea that monasticism was the 'custodian of authentic Christianity'[15], and in the ninth century Smaragdus claimed that 'the apostles were monks and the true authors of the monastic life'[16].  The monastic ideals of common property, voluntary poverty, commitment to prayer and separation from the world emulated the 'lifestyle of the apostolic community at Jerusalem as briefly described in the Acts of the Apostles'[17].  These ideals varied in emphasis between orders and at different periods in history – voluntary poverty, for example, became particularly attractive to the sons of the rich who were disenchanted with the trappings of wealth, and enjoyed a surge of popularity as Europe increased in wealth in the twelfth century[18].  Yet each order, with its distinct emphasis, justified its spiritual expression in the biblical founding vision of the life of the Apostles as 'the source and origin of monasticism'[19].  The 'popular Christianity' of their day was not a vigourous enough form of Christianity for those who pursued the monastic lifestyle.  Monastics saw themselves as a spiritual elite, and aimed to live-out the most authentic Christianity they could find, using the earliest Christian communities as their model.

Early Salvationists experienced a similar dissatisfaction with the spiritual effeteness of their contemporaries, and in some ways grew up in protest of it.  'Popular Christianity must be confessed, when weighed in the balances of the sanctuary, to be found lamentably wanting' claimed Catherine Booth[20], and Cardinal Manning conceded in 1882 that 'The Salvation Army could never have existed but for the spiritual desolation of England'[21].  Salvationism, like monasticism, also appealed to apostolic Christianity as the model on which modern Christians should form their faith – and none more vehemently than Catherine Booth.  Of the apostles she asserted, 'is it not true that just in proportion as their successors have followed in their steps, they have been successful in propagating the gospel!'[22]  Her reading of Acts produced slightly different ideals from that of the monastics: voluntary poverty, separation from the world and commitment were there, but true Christian expression, she posited, was evidenced by passionate, aggressive evangelisation.  She lamented, 'the fact that modern Christianity has ceased, as a rule, to provoke opposition, is one of the deadliest signs of its effeteness.  As a rule, the world and modern Christianity go comfortably together'.[23]  Where the Church's expression of Christianity was weak, and Salvationism sought to live a different, strong, effective, vigourous, authentic faith.   The magazine Christian Week commented in 1881 that in Salvationism 'we discover a type of Christianity so bright, so heroic and so pure that it puts to shame the cold and fashionable Christianity'[24].  Like monasticism, Salvationism aimed to live out the New Testament expression of Christianity in its fullness.

As monasticism grew in popularity throughout Europe, it started to lose focus.  'As more and more people recognized the value of these communities, they were offered favors by people in power' and endowments by the wealthy[25].  The emphasis shifted from the ascetic ideals of voluntary poverty, and monasteries became increasingly preoccupied with acquiring and managing their growing wealth.  With the increased demand for land and the rise of the 'money economy' in Europe in the eleventh century, monastic houses found themselves in positions of great affluence[26].  The late eleventh and early twelfth centuries saw the rise of movements criticising 'the religious life as practised in contemporary monastic houses', which led to a 'crisis of monasticism'[27].  Sincere monastics sought to recover the asceticism and simplicity of 'primitive monasticism'.  Both Burton[28] and Lawrence[29] identify three sources of inspiration in primitive monasticism that attracted disciples: the practices of the Desert Fathers, early hermitic mystics who were extremely ascetic; the vita apostolica, or 'apostolic life', referring to the practices of the very first Christian communities; and the return to a stricter, more literal observance of the Rule of Benedict itself.  This quest for the purest, most authentic, most primitive form of monasticism led to the establishment of many new orders, but inevitably these too eventually compromised their founding ideals.

The Salvation Army has also moved away from its founding vision as it has acquired property, wealth and a respectable reputation.  Numerical decline in Western territories has precipitated a re-evaluation of mission priorities in recent decades, and voices within the movement have suggested strategies to reverse decline, mostly appealing to the Army's founding vision for their authority.  Harold Hill identifies some contemporary manifestations of this movement to 'reawaken the radical passion of the 1880s', as 'Roots' Conferences, 'Armybarmy' websites, 'War Colleges' and an online Journal of Aggressive Christianity, grouping them under the banner of 'neo-primitive salvationism'.[30]  Stephen Court, a vocal proponent of primitive Salvationism, distils its essence to 'mission-focussed, charismatic-flavoured heroism'[31] and claims that 'Primitive Salvationism epitomized the purest, most powerful manifestation of The Radical Army of God in history'[32].  This appeal to the founding principles of the Army mirrors twelfth-century monasticism's yearning after primitive monasticism.  Experiments in primitive Salvationism continue, gathering momentum particularly in Australia and the western coast of North America, though it is too early to comment on the long-term effect of this trend.  Court observes, 'unapologetic, romantic, heroic warfare remains as attractive and captivating today as it was 130 years ago with the primitive salvos or 2,000 years ago with the 33 AD salvos'[33], or, indeed, as it was 900 years ago for monasticism.

This convergence between the monastic and Salvationist traditions is by no means exhausted in this paper.  I have not mentioned the distinctive clothing, or the anti-sacerdotal emphasis on lay spirituality, or the priority of evangelisation that occurred in monasticism in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.  I hope I have demonstrated resonating frequencies between the two movements in terms of the ordering of the spiritual life according to promises to God and a Rule of life; of the common inspiration for Salvationists and monastics in the vita apostolica in the context of contemporary spiritual malaise; and of the appeal of primitive forms of their respective movements in order to to reinvigorate their own spiritual expressions.  It is my prayer that, whereas the monastic renewal of the eleventh and twelfth centuries ultimately failed, renewal movements within Salvationism would be powerfully used of God to reinvigorate The Salvation Army and to bless the world.

Bibliography

Booth, Catherine
            1986     Popular Christianity.  Atlanta: The Salvation Army Supplies

Booth, William

            1977     Chosen To Be A Soldier: Orders And Regulations for Soldiers of The Salvation Army.  London: The                         Salvation Army

            1950     Orders and Regulations for Soldiers of The Salvation Army.  Revised. London: The Salvation Army

            1886     Orders and Regulations for Field Officers of The Salvation Army. London, The Salvation Army

Burton, Janet

            1996     Medieval Monasticism.  Oxford: Headstart History

            1994     Monastic and Religious Orders in Britain 1000-1300.  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Court, Stephen

            2005     'Engaging the Ecumenical Booths'.  Journal of Aggressive Christianity. 37 (2005): 58-60

            2003     'Covenantal Soldiership'.  Journal of Aggressive Christianity 27 (2003):  38-40

            2001     'Revolution'.  Journal of Aggressive Christianity 14 (2001): 87-149

Day, Peter

            2001     A Dictionary of Religious Orders.  London: Burns & Oats

Dunn, Marilyn

            2003     The Emergence of Monasticism.  Oxford: Blackwell

Fry, Timothy

            1982     Benedict: The Rule of St Benedict.  Collegeville, Minnesota: The Liturgical Press

Hamilton, Bernard

            2003     The Christian World of the Middle Ages.  Stroud, Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing

Hill, Harold

            2005     'Leadership in The Salvation Army: A Case Study in Clericalisation'. Journal of Aggressive                                     Christianity 37 (2005): 6-32

Lawrence, C.H.

            2001     Medieval Monasticism.  Third Edition.  Harlow, Essex: Pearson Education Ltd.

Salvation Army, The

            2010     The Salvation Army Handbook of Doctrine.  London: Salvation Books

Sandall, Robert

            1947     The History of The Salvation Army Volume I: 1865-1878.  London: Thomas Nelson & Sons

            1950     The History of The Salvation Army Volume II: 1878-1886.  London: Thomas Nelson & Sons

Wilson-Hartgrove, Jonathan

            2008     New Monasticism.  Grand Rapids: Brazos Press

Workman, Herbert B.

1927          The Evolution of the Monastic Ideal.  London: Epworth Press