Journalist Claire Hoffman chronicles the dramatic rise, disappearance, and near-fall of Aimee Semple McPherson. A pioneer of Pentecostalism and founder of the Foursquare Church, 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, and the Foursquare Church continues, with more than eight million followers worldwide.
In 1926, weeks after McPherson disappeared in the Pacific Ocean, she reappeared in the desert, claiming to have been kidnapped. Hoffman speaks with Columbia Journalism School Dean Jelani Cobb about what happened next—sex scandals, religious persecution, legal shenanigans, the seemingly unshakable faith of her followers, and the media’s race to cover it all.