The Metaphor of War
and
The Salvation Army

Key Concept Resistance to the Metaphor

     The fact that neither the Penitent Form nor the Holiness Table have military language associated with them tells of the resistance to the metaphor of war or anything military.

Evidence from The Salvation Army Songbook

     In an attempt to demonstrate this resistance, I made an examination of the 1017 songs contained in The Salvation Army Songbook (1967).

1. Terms that may refer to either the Penitent Form or the Holiness Table

• Altar: 19, 115, 122, 328, 358, 363, 434, 446, 461, 463, 788, 916, 927, 959, 990
• Mercy Seat: 77, 150, 161, 187, 198, 201, 203, 205, 475, 527, 546, 583, 928
• Other expressions that might be understood to have a metaphorical reference to the furniture when associated with a response are throne (of Christ), fountain, and cross, etc.

2. In The Salvation Army, an invitation to accept Christ as Savior is always extended, much the way Billy Graham Crusades always do. It is anticipated that those who respond will kneel at the Penitent Form. In the songbook, verbs suggesting responses vary. For instance, they include "come", "bring", "kneel", "surrender". Implicit from a traditional Army stance all of these mean to kneel. In a military sense this would mean surrender. It could also be understood as a decision to choose sides in the spiritual war, in which case kneeling could be understood as an act of allegiance.

3. I was unable to demonstrate any way in which the pieces of furniture were militarized. Nor was I able to demonstrate ways in which the language associated with seeking/finding Salvation or Holiness (the Key Concepts) were at all military or even more generally metaphorically linked to war.

NOTE: There is some indication that when Holiness is represented as the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, hence associated with fire, that the possibility existed for militarization -- the expression "baptism by fire" being a religious expression that made its way into the language of war as well as more general usage. However, I could find no support for this in the Songbook.