This week in Christian history: Salvation Army co-founder dies, Jonathan Edwards born

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, October 03, 2021

Salvation Army co-founder dies – Oct. 4, 1890

This week marks the anniversary of when Catherine Booth, a preacher and social worker who along with her husband founded the Salvation Army, died from cancer.

A social activist and lay preacher raised in the Methodist tradition, Booth was an outspoken proponent of women having more prominent roles in church leadership.

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“Catherine began her writing career with a rebuttal to a local pastor who demeaned women’s spiritual understanding,” wrote Toni Gonzales of History's Women. 

“She argued that nurture, not nature, was to blame and set out to change the status of women in the church through speaking engagements and self-publishing. Monies she earned were funneled back into her husband’s growing ministry to the poor.”

Approximately 36,000 people attended her funeral.