Breathes life into not just one or two of these women - but two dozen.

2015 Smith/Wynkoop Book Award presented by the Wesleyan Theological Society
2014 Choice Outstanding Academic Title

During the Progessive Era, a period of unprecedented ingenuity, women evangelists built the old time religion with brick and mortar, uniforms and automobiles, fresh converts and devoted protégés. Across America, entrepreneurial women founded churches, denominations, religious training schools, rescue homes, rescue missions, and evangelistic organizations. Until now, these intrepid women have gone largely unnoticed, though their collective yet unchoreographed decision to build institutions in the service of evangelism marked a seismic shift in American Christianity.



In this ground-breaking study, Priscilla Pope-Levison dusts off the unpublished letters, diaries, sermons, and yearbooks of these pioneers to share their personal tribulations and public achievements. The effect is staggering. With an uncanny eye for essential details and a knack for historical nuance, Pope-Levison breathes life into not just one or two of these women—but two dozen.

"I really enjoyed this book. It is well organized, well written, and full of interesting detailsa sign, no doubt, of many hours of research. . . . Scholars of American Christianity, the Progressive Era, the holiness movements, and American women's history (religious or otherwise) would all benefit from Pope-Levison's work in Building the Old Time Religion." - Religion in American History blog

"Pope-Levison, professor of theology at Seattle Pacific University, has been fascinated with the history of Christian women for decades. The theologian, author, and ordained United Methodist minister shares her discoveries unearthed over the last 20 years through painstaking research in Building the Old Time Religion: Women Evangelists in the Progressive Era.Building the Old Timefeatures in-depth accounts of the lives, accomplishments, and controversies of influential Christian leaders such as Amanda Berry Smith, Evangeline Booth, Helen Sunday, Aimee Semple McPherson, Jennie Fowler Willing, Martha Lee, Anna Prosser, Minnie Draper, and numerous others." - The Christian Post

"Readers without detailed knowledge of the US political, social, and ecclesiological context will need to hold on tightly, but will be richly repaid through the sheer accessibility of the stories and, through them, the clearly presented context." - Wesley Methodist Studies

"In her book, Pope-Levison explores the role of women evangelists as institution builders of evangelic enterprises, churches and denominations, religious training schools and benevolence ministries...Pope-Levinson utilizes an ecumenical approach in exploring religious institutions built by women during the Progressive Era." - Pneuma

"This deeply engaging book will interest audiences ranging from general readers (particularly those with an interest in women and Christianity, or Christianity during the Progressive Era) to students and scholars. It will be valuable in undergraduate or graduate classrooms." - Choice

"This study suggests scholars can better understand woman as institution builders in American religion, even women as varied as Phoebe Palmer and Mother Angelica." - The Journal of American History

"[Pope-Levisons] rich and detailed history of these religious institutions has brought to life an understudied set of female evangelists who had a significant influence on American religious history by building lasting but sometimes forgotten religious organizations." - The Historian

"Readers without detailed knowledge of the US political, social, and ecclesiological context will need to hold on tightly, but will be richly repaid through the sheer accessibility of the stories, through them, the clearly presented context." - Wesley and Methodist Studies

"Pope-Levison builds on work by Margaret Lamberts Bendroth, Matthew Avery Sutton, and Catherine A. Brekus to create further understanding of the ways female evangelists of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries pushed back against patriarchal norms to create spaces for themselves. Pope-Levision adds to previous scholarship by arguing that these women also pushedforward, founding churches, religious training institutes, and denominations." - Register of the Kentucky Historical Society