Gallery: Selling Religion
From her earliest days as a traveling preacher to her Los Angeles years as a media phenomenon, Aimee Semple McPherson developed masterful skills of self-promotion. She, spread her religious message with the aid of the newest technologies, like radio, the automobile, and airplanes.
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This poster for an Oakland, California appearance highlights the sermons Aimee Semple McPherson planned to deliver.
Credit: International Church of the Foursquare Gospel -
Aimee Semple McPherson and her husband Harold McPherson pose in front of a camp meeting tent in St. Petersburg, Florida, in this 1917 photo.
Credit: International Church of the Foursquare Gospel -
Aimee Semple McPherson stands in front of her "Gospel Car." She and her mother traveled across the country in it in 1918, at a time when most roads were still unpaved.
Credit: International Church of the Foursquare Gospel -
In 1917, Aimee Semple McPherson started the magazine Bridal Call. The title referred to a New Testament parable about ten virgins awaiting a bridegroom that some interpreted as symbolizing the second coming of Jesus.
Credit: International Church of the Foursquare Gospel -
In 1929, Aimee Semple McPherson began writing and producing sacred operas. She titled this 1931 production, The Iron Furnace.
Credit: International Church of the Foursquare Gospel -
Aimee Semple McPherson stands center stage at the Angelus Temple, her Los Angeles headquarters. Above her is a verse from the Book of Hebrews 13:8, "Jesus Christ. The same yesterday today and forever."
Credit: International Church of the Foursquare Gospel -
A crowd gathers beneath the marquee of Broadway's Capitol Theater in New York City, where Aimee Semple McPherson appeared in 1934.
Credit: International Church of the Foursquare Gospel -
Aimee Semple McPherson stands at a microphone in the Angelus Temple's pulpit.
Credit: International Church of the Foursquare Gospel
