Spirited Sisters

Women have long stood at the heart of the Holiness and Pentecostal movements, even when their influence was only partially acknowledged. Spirited Sisters brings their stories into focus, tracing the ways women shaped these intertwined histories.Through focused examination of varied contexts across the Anglosphere—the United States, Canada, Britain, and Australia—from the mid-nineteenth through mid-twentieth centuries, the book explores women’s roles in Holiness and Pentecostal communities. It considers both prominent figures, such as Phoebe Palmer, Catherine Booth, and Aimee Semple McPherson, and women whose contributions have been overlooked or marginalized in official historical accounts. Drawing on historical and contextual case studies, the chapters illuminate common patterns of liberation and limitation: women’s early freedom to exercise leadership, the barriers they continued to face, and the ways institutional structures often reinforced patriarchal norms over time. The volume also shows how the interplay between informal networks and formal denominational structures is crucial to understanding Holiness and Pentecostal history, especially as it relates to women.In bringing these traditions into conversation, Spirited Sisters adds new detail and texture to the growing literature on women in Holiness and Pentecostal Christianity. It will interest scholars and students of these movements, Christian history, and women’s history more broadly, as well as clergy and educated lay readers.