"Take up thy bed and walk": Aimee Semple McPherson and faith-healing.

Aimee Semple McPherson was an important factor in the spread of Pentecostalism in the first half of the 20th century. Although she always identified herself as Canadian, she built her temple in Los Angeles, from which she hoped to evangelize the world. Before settling down in 1923, however, she experienced unnerving success as a faith-healer. Never comfortable with the role, not least of all because she was committed to saving souls, not bodies, Sister McPherson attempted during her secluded final decade to devise a theory of faith-healing. Although still celebrated by her followers as a prophet and a healer, she had expressed discomfort in her lifetime with both these roles. Physically, she ran herself into the ground and died at the age of 54 from a drug overdose.