Aimee Semple McPherson and the Resurrection of Christian America
Sinclair Lewis thought he had taken the measure of America's most prominent female evangelist when he created the notorious Sister Sharon Falconer in his novelElmer Gantry. Sutton thinks otherwise, discerning in McPherson a complex personality far more interesting than Lewis' fictional hypocrite. Passionately committed to ancient scripture, McPherson was savvy in the use of emerging media technologies. An advocate of Victorian social values, she transgressed traditional gender roles to perform her ministry. McPherson cultivated her celebrity by showcasing her physical beauty and weaving provocatively erotic themes into her sermons--and destroyed her status by stumbling into sexual scandal. After years as a leper, McPherson reemerged as a religious leader when she reached out to African Americans and others at the social margin. But Sutton helps readers see in McPherson more than one paradoxical woman: her Foursquare Gospel helped catalyze a fundamental cultural realignment that brought Pentecostals and Evangelicals into the American mainstream, transforming American politics in ways that continue to write today's headlines. A nuanced portrait of an entire movement.Bryce ChristensenCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved