Nearly a century ago, America’s most famous woman evangelist vanished—mysteriously reappearing weeks later. This bizarre true story is just one of many in the extraordinary life of Aimee Semple McPherson. In her new book, Sister, Sinner, author Claire Hoffman follows McPherson’s mesmerizing journey as the religious leader, megachurch founder, and subject of immense fame and scandal. Join Alta Live and Alta Journal editor at large Mary Melton as we welcome Hoffman for a discussion on McPherson’s life, legacy, and major mark on Los Angeles history.

Here are some notable quotes from today’s event:

  • On why she wrote this book: “She’s really flawed. She’s this charismatic figure who arguably made a lot of mistakes. And because of those mistakes, she’s been sort of erased from history or represented in ways that were not a full-bodied representation, so I decided at some point that I think I can contribute to this sort of canon, mini-canon, on Aimee in that she was somebody who I thought deserved both empathy and scrutiny.”
  • On Aimee Semple McPherson’s religious authenticity: “My sense is she was very natural. She believed completely in spreading the gospel. I don’t get any sense, and I have spent a lot of time in her archive, that there was any duplicity in that sense. She truly felt chosen by God to spread the gospel. And I think she just naturally got on a stage and was herself, whatever that was. Like, if that had sex appeal to people, that had sex appeal; if that was motherly, that was motherly; but it was her.”
  • On McPherson’s two sides: “She is this incredible two opposites. That’s the title, Sister, Sinner. She did incredibly good work in the city of Los Angeles. Her outreach to communities, feeding over a million people during the Great Depression. Very muscular, incredibly well-organized social outreach and impact on the city of L.A. Like, she really was a force for good. And then, two people died looking for her, and that is a crime, you know.”

Check out these links to some of the topics brought up this week.

About the guest:

Claire Hoffman is the author of the memoir Greetings from Utopia Park: Surviving a Transcendent Childhood and a journalist reporting for national magazines on culture, religion, celebrity, business, and more. She was formerly a staff reporter for the Los Angeles Times and Rolling Stone. She is a graduate of UC Santa Cruz and has an MA in religion from the University of Chicago and an MA in journalism from Columbia University. She serves on the boards of the Columbia Journalism School, ProPublica, and the Brooklyn Public Library.

About the book:

Sister, Sinner chronicles the dramatic rise, disappearance, and near-fall of Aimee Semple McPherson, America’s most famous woman evangelist.

On a spring day in 1926, Aimee Semple McPherson wandered into the Pacific Ocean and vanished. Weeks later she reappeared in the desert, claiming to have been kidnapped. A national media frenzy and months of investigation ensued. Who was this woman?

America’s most famous evangelist, McPherson was a sophisticated marketer who used spectacle, storytelling, and the newest technology―including her own radio station―to bring God’s message to the masses. Her innovations brought Pentecostalism into the mainstream, paved the way for televangelists, and shaped the future of American Christianity. Her Angelus Temple in Echo Park, Los Angeles, can be called the first megachurch. Her Foursquare Church continues, with more than eight million faithful around the world.

But after her disappearance, as crowds gathered at the water’s edge, people asked: Was McPherson everybody’s saintly sister, or a con-artist sinner? The story of what happened next―sex scandals, religious persecution, legal shenanigans, the seemingly unshakable faith of thousands of followers, and the race to cover it all―runs through the center of Claire Hoffman’s thrilling Sister, Sinner.•