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Blood and Fire: The Story of William and Catherine Booth and their Salvation Army by Roy Hattersley
xxstefaniereadsxx's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
3.0
William Booth was an English Methodist preacher. Booth joined the Methodist Reform Church in 1851, becoming a preacher. During this time, he became engaged to Catherine. The two were married in London in 1853. He requested several times to be freed from pastoral duties so he could go off and be an evangelist, but those requests kept getting denied. He eventually separated himself from that to become an independent evangelist, though he preached basically the same things that the Methodist Reform Church did. He founded a Christian Mission to help spread his message of religion.
The Christian Mission that he founded became The Salvation Army in 1878. The Salvation Army was modeled after the military, having it's own flag and theme song. The premise was that members were "God's Army" and they were "putting on the armor of God" to do ministry work. The Salvation Army has expanded to many countries, and is a staple here in the United States. This group sought to provide homes, training, food, etc. for people in need. Of course, they wanted to preach at people and talk about how to stop vices, such as drinking and gambling. Opposition to the anti-alcohol position causes some really dramatic violence and ill words between the members and others. Booth was also called General Booth in this organization, which I found to be completely ridiculous.
I cannot deny that The Salvation Army has helped a lot of people. I know that the one in my city has a homeless shelter and food bank, which has helped a lot of people. The mission statement on their website says the mission is to preach the gospel and meet human needs in the name of God without discrimination. While not discriminating is great, it would be nice to be able to simply help other people by providing resources and education and not trying to indoctrinate them into any religious group. The history of The Salvation Army was something that I have never thought about. This book was a dollar at my local used bookstore, which is the sole reason that I picked it up. It was interesting to learn how this organization got started and see how much it has grown since then. The book wasn't boring to read, but it wasn't my favorite thing I have read so far this year. If you are interested in Christian missions or just how this organization began, this would be a great book for you to pick up.
The Christian Mission that he founded became The Salvation Army in 1878. The Salvation Army was modeled after the military, having it's own flag and theme song. The premise was that members were "God's Army" and they were "putting on the armor of God" to do ministry work. The Salvation Army has expanded to many countries, and is a staple here in the United States. This group sought to provide homes, training, food, etc. for people in need. Of course, they wanted to preach at people and talk about how to stop vices, such as drinking and gambling. Opposition to the anti-alcohol position causes some really dramatic violence and ill words between the members and others. Booth was also called General Booth in this organization, which I found to be completely ridiculous.
I cannot deny that The Salvation Army has helped a lot of people. I know that the one in my city has a homeless shelter and food bank, which has helped a lot of people. The mission statement on their website says the mission is to preach the gospel and meet human needs in the name of God without discrimination. While not discriminating is great, it would be nice to be able to simply help other people by providing resources and education and not trying to indoctrinate them into any religious group. The history of The Salvation Army was something that I have never thought about. This book was a dollar at my local used bookstore, which is the sole reason that I picked it up. It was interesting to learn how this organization got started and see how much it has grown since then. The book wasn't boring to read, but it wasn't my favorite thing I have read so far this year. If you are interested in Christian missions or just how this organization began, this would be a great book for you to pick up.
rlangemann's review against another edition
3.0
A fascinating read about a strong, dynamic couple. Well-researched and shows both their strong points and their imperfections. It's hard to tell how balanced it is, though, because it's clear that the author isn't a Christian and can't understand from within the motivations of Christians.
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