By C.J. Carnacchio
Leader Editor
Long before preachers like Pat Robertson and groups like the Christian Coalition melded religion, politics and mass media into an evangelical juggernaut powerful enough to elect presidents, there was a woman named Aimee Semple McPherson.
Don’t feel bad if you just muttered, ‘Who??
‘Folks in their 70s and 80s, almost all of them remember her,? said Matthew Avery Sutton, an assistant professor of history at Oakland University. ‘Most people any younger than that don’t.?
But the 31-year-old Oxford resident is hoping to change all that with his new 416-page book ‘Aimee Semple McPherson and the Resurrection of Christian America? (Harvard University Press; $26.95) released last week.
‘Hopefully, my book will return her to the spotlight as one of the central characters of the 20th century,? said Sutton, who lives on Moyer Street with his wife Kristen and one-year-old son, Jackson. ‘It’s much more than a traditional biography. I use her to understand mass media, politics and women’s roles in religion in the 1920s, 30s and 40s.
During the decades between the two world wars, McPherson ? or ‘Sister Aimee? as she was known nationwide ? was the most flamboyant, controversial, charismatic and wildly popular evangelical ministers in the United States. An astounding feat for a woman at that time, especially one who began life as a small town girl from Ontario, Canada.
Sutton described McPherson as a ‘pioneer? who showed ‘evangelical Christians how to blend their religious faith with mass media, technology and political activism.?
‘In the last decade or so, there’s been this powerful emergence of an evangelical movement that blends mass media with celebrity ministers and political activism. Many people sort of think it came out of nowhere,? Sutton explained. ‘Actually, it’s got a long, deep history (that can be traced back to McPherson who) really was at the cutting edge of some of these trends that have come to define modern American life and culture in the 21st century.?
A master of showmanship on the stage and prominent celebrity loved by the press, it was fitting that McPherson founded her Pentecostal denomination ? the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel ? during the early 1920s in Los Angeles, California with the glitz and glamour of Old Hollywood serving as the perfect backdrop.
Her theatrical sermons employed stage props, contemporary music and morality plays combined with elaborate costumes and scenery to keep her audiences mesmerized and turn herself into a media sensation.
She once dressed as a police officer and appeared on stage with a motorcycle as part of a sermon she delivered following all the publicity surrounding a speeding ticket she had received.
But preaching to the crowd of 5,300 three times a day, seven days a week, in Angelus Temple (the mega-church she opened in 1923), wasn’t enough for McPherson, who also published her own newspapers and a magazine.
She craved a much bigger audience and used a newfangled medium called radio to obtain it. In February 1924, she launched her KFSG (Kall Four-Square Gospel) radio station from within the Angelus Temple and used it to broadcast daily sermons that could be heard from as far way as Australia.
‘She was able to harness this new technology and use it to spread what she considered the old-time faith, the old-time Gospel,? Sutton said.
KFSG was one of the first Christian radio stations in the United States. Two lighted radio towers atop the Angelus Temple signaled a new era in which religion and technology were wed.
In a time when female ministers were rare, McPherson became one of the first women to preach radio sermons, be granted a broadcast license by the federal government and operate a station.
‘She opened doors for women,? Sutton said. ‘She was very much an activist for women’s rights and getting women into the ministry.?
Today’s right-wing evangelical political activists can definitely ‘trace their roots in some ways back to her . . . in terms of encouraging evangelical Christians to be politically active,? Sutton explained.
In her day, McPherson launched a national crusade to fight the teaching of evolution in public schools, defend Prohibition and resurrect the country’s Christian heritage by binding faith and patriotism together.
But she can’t be pigeonholed as just another conservative preacher for she was advocate for social justice.
‘In some ways, she’s more distinct than the Religious Right,? Sutton explained. ‘She supported (President Franklin D.) Roosevelt and some of the more liberal candidates.?
In addition to ministering to unwed mothers, drug addicts and victims of domestic violence, she preached a message of hope and inclusion that welcomed people of all races, colors and ethnic backgrounds.
Like many celebrity preachers, McPherson was not without her own tabloid-worthy controversies and scandals.
The most infamous was her month-long disappearance in 1926. To this day, it’s still not known whether her disappearance was a legitimate kidnapping, a staged publicity stunt or she simply ran away for personal reasons.
Sutton is among those who speculates she had an affair during this time. McPherson was allegedly seeing a married man who worked as an engineer at her radio station and went missing during the same period she did.
Although there’s ‘no hard evidence? to substantiate the affair, Sutton said it is the ‘most likely explanation.?
However, he noted McPherson does ‘deserve the benefit of the doubt.?
A highly publicized grand jury investigation regarding her disappearance ignited a media frenzy filled with juicy details and relentless attacks from her enemies.
Although all the jury indicted no one and all charges against McPherson were eventually dropped due to a lack of evidence, she fell out of favor with the press and continued to receive bad publicity.
Following the scandal, McPherson ‘goes back to her roots? and ultimately redeems herself.
No longer obsessed with being a celebrity, she returns to ‘traditional preaching? and ‘ministering to the poor and African Americans,? Sutton said.
Like any complex and controversial historical figure, there are two views of Aimee Semple McPherson.
‘Some people really revere her,? Sutton said. ‘Other people think she was a hypocrite or a fraud.?
Sutton doesn’t believe she was a conscious hypocrite with ‘bad motives.?
‘I think she was very sincere even though she was flawed and she did make mistakes,? Sutton explained. ‘I think she didn’t always have the best judgement . . . I think she was trying to do the right thing, she just didn’t always match up to her own standards.?
So why did Sutton decide to write a book about McPherson?
He grew up in the church she founded.
‘As a teenager, I was really involved in the church in southern California, but I only had this vague understanding of who she was,? Sutton said. ‘As I moved away from that church in my college years, I became fascinated with its history and more curious about it. I realized this would be a good topic to pursue in graduate school.?
The dissertation Sutton wrote to obtain his doctorate in American history from the University of California two years ago became the book now available at Amazon.com, Borders and Barnes & Noble.
Although he’s no longer a member of the Foursquare Church, Sutton admitted his book is ‘sympathetic? to McPherson, ‘but I don’t sugarcoat Aimee’s flaws.?
Reviews of the book have thus far been positive from scholars, newspapers, even the church.
Because it’s ‘more of a critical analysis? of McPherson as opposed to a ‘celebration of her,? Sutton explained, ‘There are things about it (the church doesn’t) like, but overall they feel like it was a fair treatment.?
‘The folks leading the church now are more willing to be honest with her strengths and her weaknesses,? he said.
Sutton’s goal of restoring the forgotten McPherson’s place in the national consciousness is certainly off to a good start.
His book’s already been used as the basis for an hour-long documentary (‘American Experience: Sister Aimee?) that aired nationally last week on PBS.
Not only did Sutton serve as the primary history adviser for the documentary, he also appeared on camera.
On April 2, the author and his book were featured on National Public Radio.
‘It’s getting a lot more attention than I expected,? Sutton said.

An excerpt from Sutton’s book:
‘Dazzling religious theatrics and a penchant for publicity made McPherson one of the most famous American personalities of the interwar years. The first religious celebrity of the mass media era, she mastered print, radio, and film for use in her evangelical mission. Her integration of the latest media tools with a conservative creed established precedents for the twentieth century’s most popular ministers, from Billy Graham to Oral Roberts to Pat Robertson. Possibly more significant, she brought conservative Protestantism back from the margins to the mainstream of American culture, by arguing that Christians had an obligation to fight for the issues they believed in and boldly proclaiming that patriotism and faith were inseparable. Contemporary evangelical politicians from local school board members to President George W. Bush are indebted to McPherson for convincing the faithful that their citizenship in heaven did not nullify their citizenship on earth, but rather that they should work for a more Christian nation. Finally, with her extraordinary religious fervor and theatricality, McPherson helped shape one of the twentieth century’s most explosive religious movements ? evangelicalism. And she did it, of all places, from just outside Hollywood.?
? Excerpted from ‘Aimee Semple McPherson and the Resurrection of Christian America? by Matthew Sutton