Aimee Semple McPherson and the Making of Modern Pentecostalism, 1890-1926 - Hardcover

'[The} definitive biography.' The Times Literary Supplement 'Barfoot is an insightful, sympathetic admirer of 'Sister Aimee,' but also critical. He offers the most thorough treatment of McPherson until 1926 and the most comprehensive use of primary sources. It is a fascinating story. Recommended.' CHOICE 'Basing his work on thorough research, [Barfoot] writes with dedication and passion, inviting readers to understand the complexities of an inimitable woman who founded a religion that continues to thrive.' Reference and Research Book News 'This is an extraordinary story of an extraordinary woman. Extraordinary not only in her burning desire to evangelize the unchurched population of Los Angeles but also in her skill in using all the techniques of the Hollywood film industry to this purpose. It would have been easy for the author to use the rich material at his disposal for either a devastating scandal story or a hagiographic romance, as others have done before. Aimee's biography offers all the ingredients of a Hollywood thriller. The author avoids both temptations. Instead, he successfully tries to understand this woman in her ambiguity.' Professor Dr. Walter J. Hollenweger, Krattigen, Switzerland 'This is a large book about a very large subject. Aimee Semple McPherson towers over the religious and cultural history of America in the early years of the 20th century. And now since Pentecostalism - after World War II - has become the fastest growing segment of Christianity, her inluence is even more significant that it was a half century ago. A genuine original, Aimee was immensely talented, intensely dedicated, overwhelmeingly charming and utterly unpredictable, She cut a huge swath wherever she moved and was surely - after Eleanor Roosevelt - the most famous American woman of her time. Charles Barfoot's comprehensive biography will now become the book of record on her controversial and legendary life. But it is something different from, and better than, the standard academic biography. Barfoot is fair and even-handed, but Barfoot also loves Aimee! Also Barfoot knows and loves the spiritual tradition Aimee led and shaped. Taken together these two affairs d'amour make for a wonderfully readable account. It is past time for Aimee Semple McPherson to take her place among the epochal figures in American history, and this book can make that happen.' Harvey Cox, Hollis Professor of Divinity, Harvard University and author of Fire from Heaven and The Future of Faith 'Blending decades of Aimee research with his own formation among Pentecostals, religious historian Charles Barfoot has crafted an insightful and informative portrait of burgeoning Pentecostalism draped about one of its most colorful yet seriously underrrated figures.' Russ Spittler, Provost Emeritus, Fuller Theological Seminary 'Thanks for sharing the good news about the planned publishing of your book...I feel sure that your writings will be first class...' Dr. Rolf K. McPhersonA (Aimee's son), May 28, 2005 'This book is as much a history of Pentecostalism and the development of mystical religion as it is an account of the rise and fall of one of the most influential evangelists in the 20th century.' Missiology 'Barfoot's account of the first thirty-six years of McPherson's life is deeply personal - Barfoot's wonderfully detailed and well-written biography - will force future historians to broaden their descriptions of early Penetcostalism beyond the lower class, doctrinally narrow, and culturally insular pictures that are customary.' - Fides et Historia

Pentecostalism was born at the turn of the twentieth century in a "tumble-down shack" in a rundown semi-industrial area of Los Angeles composed of a tombstone shop, saloons, livery stables and railroad freight yards. One hundred years later Pentecostalism has not only proven to be the most dynamic representative of Christian faith in the past century, but a transnational religious phenomenon as well. In a global context Pentecostalism has attained a membership of 500 million growing at the rate of 20 million new members a year. Aimee Semple McPherson, born on a Canadian farm, was Pentecostalism's first celebrity, its "female Billy Sunday". Arriving in Southern California with her mother, two children and $100.00 in 1920, "Sister Aimee", as she was fondly known, quickly achieved the height of her fame. In 1926, by age 35, "Sister Aimee" would pastor "America's largest 'class A' church", perhaps becoming the country's first mega church pastor. In Los Angeles she quickly became a folk hero and civic institution. Hollywood discovered her when she brilliantly united the sacred with the profane. Anthony Quinn would play in the Temple band and Aimee would baptize Marilyn Monroe, council Jean Harlow and become friends with Charlie Chaplain, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford. Based on the biographer's first time access to internal church documents and cooperation of Aimee's family and friends, this major biography offers a sympathetic appraisal of her rise to fame, revivals in major cities and influence on American religion and culture in the Jazz Age. The biographer takes the reader behind the scenes of Aimee's fame to the early days of her harsh apprenticeship in revival tents, failed marriages and poverty. Barfoot recreates the career of this "called" and driven woman through oral history, church documents and by a creative use of new source material. Written with warmth and often as dramatic as Aimee, herself, the author successfully captures not only what made Aimee famous but also what transformed Pentecostalism from its meager Azusa Street mission beginnings into a transnational, global religion.