At NPR, Michel Martin talks to Diane Winston about the religion of the Salvation Army:
MARTIN: So, tell us about how the Salvation Army started.
Prof. WINSTON: The Salvation Army was the brainchild of William Booth who was a British evangelist. And in the 1860s and ’70s, he tried several different missions to reach the un-churched poor in London, but none were very successful. So, one day he was brain storming with his top command—well, I call it command in retrospect—but with his top men, and they said what we need is an army, a Salvation Army. And he loved the name, he was sort of autocratic to start with. And so, they had a great time making this into a living metaphor.
Continue reading, or listen to the discussion, here.