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Are we a Metaphor?
by
Anthony Castle
A
dangerous assumption
In recent discussion and debate a vital question, or
common assumption, about The Salvation Army’s identity has
arisen. Basically, is TSA’s militant metaphor contradictory
and irrelevant to the gospel and the culture in which we
minister.1 In my view, the crux of this issue is not the
relevance or alleged irrelevance of a militaristic identity,
but the assumption that it’s metaphorical. I concede that the
term ‘metaphor’ has been employed in the past to explain TSA’s
militant modus operandi, though I suspect for lack a better
word. You see when one assumes that TSA is a metaphor, one
perceives its identity, cause and methods as figurative,
immaterial, and like any trope of language, open to
alteration. If we are a metaphorical army in a metaphorical
war, then we are not really an army and this is not a war.
This assumption naturally arises because militancy is but one
of many images presented in scripture to give simple
description to our faith and practice. After all, it is not as
if militancy is the only descriptive image offered in
scripture. What of ‘reaping the harvest’ or ‘running the
race’? Scripture utilizes agricultural and athletic metaphors
frequently, often alongside the militaristic image, and you
don’t see any other denominations getting carried away and
transforming into the Harvesters of Deliverance with uniform
overalls and farming equipment. No Athletes of Redemption
either, equipped with vestment shorts and ecumenical relay
baton. So why does the militant image apply beyond mere
literary function. Why do we take the militant perspective,
the notion of the great salvation war, so seriously?
The sword of the Word - Eph 6:17, Heb 4:12
We take it seriously because scripture does. The militant
image appears often in the epistles, frequently terming
Christians as “soldiers” (Php 2:25, 2 Tim 2:3-4, Phm 1:2)
engaged in a “struggle” (Heb 12:4, Eph 6:12), a “fight” (1 Tim
1:18, 2 Tim 4:7) or a “war” (2 Cor 10:4, 1 Pe 2:11). We are
given divine armor (Eph 6) and weaponry (2 Cor 6:7, 10;4) to
combat the strongholds of satan, whose title translates to
“adversary” or “enemy”. Outside the epistles there are a
number of linguistic references in scripture regarding
militancy, for example ‘paganus’, a term for those who aren’t
Christian, was originally used when describing one unengaged
in military service.2 The designation of Jesus as ‘kurios’ was
actually an authoritarian title for a military commander.3
Scripture employs a detailed militant rhetoric that easily
supercedes any alternative image in frequency, depth and
spiritual application.
Now, I admit that some of these passages are discoursing in
various tropes, both metaphor and simile, but ultimately the
militant image in scripture is more than words in its relation
to the unseen reality of spiritual warfare and its apocalyptic
conclusion. The spiritual realms are plagued with unseen, but
actual, battles that define our faith and steer the fate of
creation (Dan 10:13, Eph 6:12, Rev 12:7), until Jesus returns
victoriously to “make war” against satan and his nations (Rev
19).
Literary vs Literal
So the militant imagery applies literally to the
metaphysical, but what about our physical action? Isn’t the
militant view of our ministry still just a metaphor? Maybe
not. When we feed a hungry person, the experience of hunger is
actually overcome and defeated. When we lead someone to Jesus,
they have actually switched sides in a violent, cosmic
struggle. We are literal protagonists involved in a literal
conflict. We can express ourselves in metaphor through
language, but not in behavior. We cannot be or do a metaphor.
If, for argument’s sake, TSA must function as a trope, it may
be better suited to metonymy. A metonymy is a figure of speech
where the name of something is substituted with one of its
attributes or associations, for example, referring to a
Christian and their faith as a soldier in a war.
However, metonymy is just another rhetorical device, and
though it may be useful in theological theory, it will fail
when applied to our identity and it’s day to day practice.
This is more than a case of semantics. Ultimately, this
splitting linguistic headache has to do with our culture’s
preoccupation with categorisation and definition. It is a
reaction symptomatic of the postmodern world’s fatal cynicism.
If something appears anachronistic or idealistic, we feel
compelled to employ our most effective tool of subversion to
devalue it… a definition.
Manifest Mystery/Sacramental life
When the mirage of acceptance and respectability beckons,
definitions are tempting. However, no figure of speech can
accurately capture what we are as a movement. So could it be
that we actually transcend rhetorical categorisation? When
something eludes definition and understanding, it is either
meaningless, or alternatively, a mystery. To avoid becoming
yet another meaningless institution, we might need to advance
into the 3rd millennium claiming the transcendent nature of
our identity, not rejecting it. Letting our sweat, tears,
prayers and epaulets do the talking. Avoiding all attempts to
fit into uncomfortable categories and just function as a
living, breathing, manifestation of mystery.
This works on the most basic level. Tell your neighbor that
you’re an official member of a conservative, protestant Church
denomination/charity and they’ll have turned their back and
walked off before you’ve even finished the sentence. Tell them
you’re a covenanted warrior fighting to banish social and
spiritual evils from the world and they’ll at least pay
attention.
This is the crux and the calling of the Salvationist. To
fulfill the great commission in lives sacred and consecrated
to the Kingdom of God. In other words, to live a sacramental
life. Despite its ecclesiastical application, the term
‘sacrament’ derives from the Latin sacramentum, or mysterion
in the Greek, a word that lends itself to two definitions:
First, something set apart for sacred purposes, and second, a
soldier’s vow of self-consecration in regards to their army
and kingdom.4
Our oath as soldiers, our identity as an army is rooted in
mystery and the sacred and in consequence does not easily fall
into definitions or submit to figures of speech. As sworn
soldiers, was our promise to Jesus, our covenant to His cause,
a metaphor? If it is, then is the Kingdom of God a metaphor?
What about our salvation?
Context of culture or a context of compassion
The question of metaphor never entered into the
Salvationist ecclesiology of our spiritual ancestors as they
vowed to evangelise the world. As early as 1879 Catherine
Booth stated,
“We are an army. We grew into one, and then we found it out,
and called ourselves one. Every soldier of this Army is
pledged to carry the standard of the Cross into every part of
the world, as far as he has opportunity. Our motto is “The
World for Jesus”.5
William Booth put it in a similar fashion,
“Gradually, the Movement took more of the military form, and
finding as we looked upon it… that God in His good providence
had led us unwittingly, so to speak, to make an army, we
called it an army, and seeing it was an army organised for
deliverance of mankind from sin, and the power of the devil,
we called it an army of deliverance, an army of salvation- The
Salvation Army.”6
As far as William Booth was concerned, there were “killing
armies”, and in sharp juxtaposition there was The Salvation
Army. We weren’t the fake army, the others were.
Then again, maybe the question never arose. After all, the
original Salvationists were probably too busy leading tens of
thousands to Jesus, changing legislation to free women and
children from prostitution and industrial slavery, as well as
leading a branch of the Kingdom that spread dynamic spiritual
and social reform across the planet. Why would they bother
questioning what they were?
The weary suspicion that would have us mistake the sacramental
reality of spiritual warfare for an anachronistic image will
pass, especially in the context of mission. What does the
homeless junkie overdosing in an alley have to say about our
detailed and conflicting ecclesiastical rhetoric? What about
the prostituted women on my street who’ll be beaten by their
pimps tonight? The 44 children that have starved to death in
the third-world in the time that it took for you to read this
article? We are not a metaphor to them. We would do well to
discard the literary categories and claim the literal reality.
Make no mistake. This is war.
Footnotes
1- In various writings, articles and debates the militant
identity of The Salvation Army and its articulation in our
form have been questioned. In almost all of these instances
our militant identity has been labeled a ‘metaphor’. It is
understandable that in light of the Church’s abhorrent
contribution to such historical episodes as the crusades and
colonialism, militancy in our faith has understandably become
unpopular and intellectually taboo. Historically, The
Salvation Army has often tailored the articulation of its
militaristic identity to suit the sensitivity of new mission
fields, for instance, Booth-Tucker in India etc. Those
entrenched in the frontlines of sensitive mission fields
should be the ones to further discern the appropriate
articulation of militancy in our form, and partner with Holy
Spirit in advancing the Kingdom.
2- Major Phil Needham, Community in Mission: A Salvationist
Eccelesiogy, (The Campfield Press, Atlanta, 1987), p.126.
3- Needham, Community in Mission, p.126.
4- James Hastings Ed., Dictionary of The Bible (Morrison and
Gibb Limited, London,1936), under entry ‘Sacrament’, p. 806.
5- Trevor Yaxley and Carolyn Vanderwal, William and Catherine:
The Life and Legacy of the Booths Founders of the Salvation
Army, (Bethany House Publishers, Minnesota, 2003), p.153.
6 Yaxley, Vanderwal, William and Catherine, p.148.
Bibliography
- Burrows, General Eva, (Rtd), notes from the lecture The
Identification Marks of The Salvation Army as part of the
Christian Church.
- Hastings, James, Ed., Dictionary of The Bible, Morrison and
Gibb Limited, London,1936.
- Needham, Major Phil, Community in Mission: A Salvationist
Eccelesiogy, The Campfield Press, Atlanta, 1987.
- Yaxley, Trevor, Vanderwal, Carolyn, William and Catherine:
The Life and Legacy of the Booths Founders of the Salvation
Army, Bethany House Publishers, Minnesota, 2003.
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