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Aimee Semple McPherson
Aimee Semple McPherson | |
|---|---|
 Sister Aimee (early 1920s) | |
| Born | Aimee Elizabeth Kennedy October 9, 1890 Salford, Ontario, Canada |
| Died | September 27, 1944 (aged 53) |
| Resting place | Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery (Glendale) |
| Known for | Founding the Foursquare Church |
| Spouse(s) | Robert Semple (1908–10; his death) Harold McPherson (1912–21; divorced) David Hutton (1931–34; divorced) |
| Children | Roberta Semple Salter (1910–2007) Rolf McPherson (1913–2009) |
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Aimee Elizabeth Semple McPherson (née Kennedy; October 9, 1890 – September 27, 1944), also known as Sister Aimee or Sister, was a Canadian-born Pentecostal evangelist and media celebrity in the 1920s and 1930s,[1] famous for founding the Foursquare Church. McPherson pioneered the use of broadcast mass media for wider dissemination of both religious services and appeals for donations, using radio to draw in both audience and revenue with the growing appeal of popular entertainment and incorporating stage techniques into her weekly sermons at Angelus Temple, an early megachurch.[2]
In her time, she was the most publicized Protestant evangelist, surpassing Billy Sunday and other predecessors.[3][4] She conducted public faith healing demonstrations involving tens of thousands of participants.[5][6] McPherson's view of the United States as a nation founded and sustained by divine inspiration influenced later pastors.
National news coverage focused on events surrounding her family and church members, including accusations that she fabricated her reported kidnapping.[7] McPherson's preaching style, extensive charity work and ecumenical contributions were major influences on 20th-century Charismatic Christianity.[8][9]
- ^ Obituary Variety, October 4, 1944.
- ^ Grimley, Naomi (November 25, 2014). "The mysterious disappearance of a celebrity preacher". BBC News.
- ^ Williams, George Hunston; Petersen, Rodney Lawrence; Pater, Calvin Augustine (1999), The Contentious Triangle: Church, State, and University, Truman State University Press, p. 308
- ^ "Aimée Mcpherson in Singapore" (newspaper article). The Straits Times. March 2, 1931. p. 11. Retrieved November 14, 2013.[dead link]
- ^ Aimee Semple McPherson Audio Tapes, http://www2.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/GUIDES/103.htm#602 Archived July 24, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Epstein, Daniel Mark, Sister Aimee: The Life of Aimee Semple McPherson (Orlando: Harcourt Brace & Co., 1993), p. 111.
"The healings present a monstrous obstacle to scientific historiography. If events transpired as newspapers, letters, and testimonials say they did, then Aimée Semple McPherson's healing ministry was miraculous...The documentation is overwhelming: very sick people came to Sister Aimee by the tens of thousands, blind, deaf, paralyzed. Many were healed some temporarily, some forever. She would point to heaven, to Christ the Great Healer and take no credit for the results." - ^ "The Incredible Disappearing Evangelist". Smithsonian. Retrieved May 3, 2014.
- ^ "RD10Q: Aimee Semple McPherson, Evangelical Maverick". Religion Dispatches. September 26, 2008. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
- ^ "'Between the refrigerator and the wildfire': Aimee Semple McPherson, pentecostalism, and the fundamentalist-modernist controversy". The Free Library. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
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