Product Description
A powerhouse biography, Sister Aimee fills a significant gap in the history of revivalism, America's most distinctive religious form, with the sensational tale of Aimee McPherson--an evangelist who had greater drawing power than Houdini, Teddy Roosevelt, or P.T. Barnum before she paid the price for her fame. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

quick and easy
Easy to order, quick to arrive, and the review was accurate.I really like the author's style with this autobiography.Very neutral and insightful to the historical context of this preacher.

Voluminous work, fascinating biography

This is a biography of the renowned evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson (1890-1944). I say "renowned" though I personally had never heard of her before encountering this book, nor had either of my parents, who were contemporaneous with her, ever mentioned her to me. But she was apparently a household name at the height of her fame.

This voluminous book is perfectly worded, but written in a slightly old-fashioned style. The first half of the book is extremely readable, but grows less so, the last chapter being somewhat boring, to my mind.

The most fascinating part of the story is the recounting of the miraculous healings which were effected by, I would say, the Christ within Aimee by the immense power of her faith. Thousands and thousands of amazing healings occurred, instantaneously, before the eyes of everyone in the magnificent Angelus temple in Los Angeles built by the evangelist. The temple was filled to the brim every night by thousands of her followers and those incurables seeking healing.

Aimme was extemely gifted in many ways, intelligent with tremendous oratorical, dramatic and creative skills. She did not preach of the fires of hell, but accepted and loved her congregation as they were. Though she did believe in the two powers, i.e. in the power of the devil also. She was one of the great figures of her generation.

Her shadow self manifested itself in the innumerable squabbles, financial and otherwise, with her family and some of her vast entourage of helpers.

Her "kidnapping", whether genuine or otherwise, brought headlines throughout the world.

She eventually wore herself out, due to her excessive activity, lack of sleep, nervous exhaustion, law-suits and break-ups with her mother and daughter.

A worthwhile read for those interested in the life of this great evangelist.

I Had No Idea
Before reading this book I simply had no idea how important an historical figure Aimee Semple McPherson is.

I had no idea that she was such an intensely popular media figure, on the scale of a top Hollywood celebrity;

... that she was one of, if not THE, first to break the gender barrier in circuit evangelism and pastoring;

... that she was the first religious radio broadcaster, having set up her own 24/7 radio tower atop her Angelus Temple;

... that she pioneered modern religious drama at the pulpit of her temple, or that she had prodigiously composed both popular songs and whole operettas, had preached a voluminous corpus of her own sermons and had also written extensively;

... or that she had spearheaded a massive ongoing relief effort, matching or exceeding that of the government, in the face of disasters such the Great Depression and the Santa Barbara earthquake.

But above all, I had no idea that Aimee possessed a simply incredible healing anointing, far greater than anything I've ever seen or heard about with any other healing evangelist.

I had seen some media glosses of Aimee's life, and unsurprisingly the accent was on her failings. And while those failings were significant, and it's important to tell the whole story warts and all, when it comes to things to do with the Lord, the media, now as during Aimee's time, still has a penchant for majoring on the minors.

Daniel Mark Epstein has beautifully told Aimee's story, and he's managed to do it both objectively and sympathetically. The man has a poet's discipline, and when he's set loose on prose he fluidly packs all kinds of detail and meaning into his words. The more I read this book the more I wanted to return to it and see the story through.

I was brought to tears several times during the tale. Most of the time it was due to the astonishing healings that Aimee wrought through Christ. A family with three young daughters, all congenitally blind, walks away with them seeing. A tearful mother's trembling hand searches in vain for misshapenness in her daughter's spine. Grapefruit-sized goiters disappear dramatically, as if lanced and evacuated. Cripples walk - some of the young ones unsteadily, because they don't know HOW to walk, never having done it before.

Ace reporters show up to find fault and expose fraud, barely can find the words to record what their own eyes are seeing, and then stay to pray. Men rip the siding off churches, trying to pass their children through the walls into overflowed services. The AMA certifies the healings and encourages Aimee in her work.

If it weren't for the healings, this would still be a noteworthy story of a dynamic evangelist, church-planter, dramatist, composer, writer, and American phenomenon. But the healings - the very part of the story that the media and cynics disdain - make this a supremely important story for anyone who wants to know what one person can achieve if they have the courage to say Yes to the Lord.

But the other cause of my tears was seeing Aimee fall victim to her own vulnerabilities and errors. The sad truth is that this world is eager to tear down anyone who achieves a degree of success in the Lord. And if the to-be-expected wolf pack of the media and the public opinion it shapes are not enough, there also will be ministerial rivals to pick up the slack.

Aimee was eaten alive by corrupt prosecutors, lawyers, incompetent managers, the media, and other pastors. And yes, her own vulnerabilities and mistakes fed into the process. But she nonetheless was a woman of immense dedication, compassion, giftings and anointing, and you will do yourself a great spiritual disservice if you ignore her achievements because of her failings. Take the achievements as motivation and the failings as admonition. In the end you will be hard put not to feel sympathy and love for Sister Aimee. I am very much the richer for having become familiar with her through this excellent book.

What a remarkable woman!
Reading about Aimee Semple McPherson was so insightful!A must read for women who believe women can do!I was surprised to learn that she was the first woman to drive across the United States--when many of the roads were not much more than dirt trails.She was also the first woman to have a radio station.Remarkable!

A surprisingly good book about a strange and wonderful woman
This biography reads almost like fiction because the subject lived an amazing yet strange life.The book is a great example of how God utilizes the imperfect, not the perfect people, to do His will.Aimee Semple McPherson lived an extraordinary life.She had plenty of controversy and failures but she managed to touch thousands and perhaps millions of people.She changed people's lives in dramatic ways.The author did an amazing job because while I think he admired her, he managed to keep an objective perspective throughout the book.Regarding events that are not clearly known, he simply reported the facts, that events occurred and he did not draw conclusions or give his opinion.He simply told the story which was fascinating and did not contaminate it with his opinion. ... Read more

Product Description
Pentecostalism was born at the turn of the twentieth century in arun down, 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 megachurch 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, counsel Jean Harlow and become friends with Charlie Chaplain, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford.Based on the biographer's 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, her 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. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Fresh Perspectives on the Ministry of Jesus
This collection of 14 articles focuses on the four main aspects of the ministry of Jesus: Jesus Christ the Savior, Jesus Christ the Healer, Jesus Christ the Baptizer in the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ the Soon Coming King. This book is suitable for classroom use as well as other teaching situations. ... Read more