Pentecostal Preacher Woman - by Linda Ambrose (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Follows the life of a Canadian Evangelical pastor who blurred the lines between conservative and progressive values.

Evangelical pastor, talk-show host, and politician--Reverend Bernice Gerard (1923-2008) was all of this and more. Pentecostal Preacher Woman explores Gerard's life as one of the most influential spiritual figures of twentieth-century British Columbia, whose complicated blend of social conservatism and social compassion contains lessons for our polarized times.

Coming out of a difficult childhood, Gerard was attracted to Pentecostalism's emphasis on direct personal experience of God and the use of spiritual gifts, and she eventually became an international evangelist. As a pastor, radio personality, and alderperson, she was a compelling communicator for the Christian right and an ardent critic of liberal social mores, yet she supported social justice for refugees, Indigenous people, and Vancouver's homeless population. She remained rooted in patriarchal religious institutions but also practiced a kind of feminism and shared her life with a female partner.

Based on Reverend Gerard's personal archives and writings, Pentecostal Preacher Woman traces the complex evolution of a conservative woman's ideas about faith and society.

Review Quotes

"Pentecostal Preacher Woman makes sense of a woman that secular feminists and scholars regularly despised during her time, and largely ignored after it - and the book is a delight to read."-- "Veronica Strong-Boag, author of A Liberal-Labour Lady: The Times and Life of Mary Ellen Spear Smith"

"Linda M. Ambrose's multifaceted portrayal of Bernice Gerard, a fascinating woman whose name will be unfamiliar to most, is a reminder that religion in British Columbia is more complicated than we assume. The twists and turns of Gerard's story will spark a rich discussion among those whose complicated lives may find them grappling with their evolving faith."-- "Phyllis D. Airhart, author of A Church with the Soul of a Nation: Making and Remaking the United Church of Canada"

About the Author

Linda M. Ambrose is professor of history at Laurentian University. She is the author of For Home and Country: The Centennial History of the Women's Institutes in Ontario, A Great Rural Sisterhood: Madge Robertson Watt and the ACWW, and, with Michael Wilkinson, After the Revival: Pentecostalism and the Making of a Canadian Church. She also co-edited Women in Agriculture: Professionalizing Rural Life in North America and Europe, 1880-1965 with Joan M. Jensen.