Prosperity Theology Research Articles

Neopentecostalism and Prosperity Theology in Latin America: A Religion for Late Capitalist Society

Iberoamericana – Revista Nórdica de Estudios de Latinoamérica y el Caribe, es una revista académica arbitrada, interdisciplinaria y bilingüe. Es administrada por el Instituto de Estudios Latinoamericanos de la Universidad de Estocolmo en colaboración con otras universidades nórdicas con el objetivo de presentar investigación de alta calidad sobre América Latina.La revista publica artículos originales enfocados en temas relacionados con las ciencias sociales y humanidades. Investigadores de todo el mundo son bienvenidos a enviar sus manuscritos en inglés o español.

The Rise (and Frequent Fall) of Evangelical Politicians: Organization, Theology, and Church Politics

Abstract Latin American evangelicals have become a common presence in legislative politics. Brazil exemplifies the potential clout of evangelical legislators and a troubling tendency toward political corruption. This article explains the quality of evangelical interest representation by focusing on church organization and theology, arguing that evangelicals approach electoral politics via three different modes: rejection; participation as individual, politically engaged believers; and engagement as church corporate project. While individual participation is unrelated to political corruption, the corporate model fosters machine politics, characterized in Brazil by resource-based politics, narrow voter bases, and frequent party switching. We link these characteristics to evangelical involvement in two corruption scandals that occurred during the administration of President Lula da Silva. The analysis shows the central role of evangelical organization and theology in shaping interest representation and suggests future duplication of the church-as-political-machine model, particularly where the “Prosperity Theology” variant of pentecostalism is strong.

A Historical Discourse on Tithing and Seed Sowing in some Nigerian Pentecostal Churches

Nigerian Pentecostal theology of prosperity has always been built around Tithing, Offering and Seed sowing with the attendant spill over effect on the mainline churches becoming more captivated in the practice. Even within the Pentecostal circles, the neo Pentecostals are steadily exerting a great deal of influence on the classical Pentecostals by enticing some of them to start preaching prosperity in the manner that the neo Pentecostals do. This article employs oral interview as well as phenomenological and expository approaches in its studies. It is discovered that prosperity preaching is currently becoming an important religious phenomenon in the Nigerian religious landscape leading to the skyrocketing of prosperity churches in contemporary Nigeria. The article submits that it is high time those who preach prosperity in Nigeria maintained a balance between their prosperity emphasis and salvation messages for the sake of people’s souls.

Banal religiosity: Brazilian athletes as new missionaries of the neo-Pentecostal diaspora

This article is about the relationship between football and religion. It focuses on the recent proliferation of neo-Pentecostalism among Brazilian football players living abroad and the importance of religion in their daily lives. Serving as a civilizing device that promotes better insertion of individuals in modern institutions, neo-Pentecostalism promotes voluntary obedience, self-control, self-awareness and reflexivity, by encouraging the conscious and constant monitoring of the individual over the body and emotions. This self-discipline has a limit, and the Theology of Prosperity offers conciliation between asceticism and material consumption. Football provides religion a large stage for its preaching, allowing it to reach billions of homes. The athletes become "selfless soldiers of the Word," who demonstrate the faith globally and disseminate banal religion through the mediascape.

Neopentecostalismo e sociedades abertas na América Latina: uma nova visão sobre a religiosidade no processo de globalização, conforme uma leitura de Popper

By analyzing the concept of open society, established by Karl Popper, it is intended to observe the growth of neo-Pentecostalism, and especially of religious institutions as the church universal and similar organizations considering its ramifications in Latin America, plus a paradoxical growth of dogmatism and the preaching of an absolute truth imposed under no more of a universal brotherhood, but a theology of prosperity, along the lines of a Pentecostal religiosity. Thus, the aim is to demonstrate how such preaching is in line with the marks of a consumer society, postindustrial, and no more religious discourse of the Catholic matrix, present at once authoritarian and dictatorial regimes present in Latin America, thirty years ago. Through a philosophical and sociological concepts decoding certain theological matters in this study, we use the thoughts of Popper, see to what extent the conservatism and maintenance of social status, characteristic of closed societies, might find fertile ground to grow, now in open societies, through the gaps left by the state in their public policies in the period of democratization of Latin American nations, the emergence and growth of religious associations that unite the liberal discourse of capitalist prosperity to the maintenance of religious dogmatism in a under the customs, which reflect a new political neoconservative, to be developed with the globalization process, responsible for new integrations between regional states and religious groups.

Prosperity and Masculinity: Neopentecostal Men in Rio de Janeiro

This article analyses how social subjects from low-income communities in a historically peripheral country like Brazil access and process the economic ideas now prevalent in the contemporary world by examining the rationalizations involved in the adherence to the individualist message of prosperity theology. Based on the classical Weberian premise of a relation between religious ethics and economic ethos (Weber, Max. 1987. A Ética Protestante e o Espírito do Capitalismo. São Paulo: Livraria Pioneira Editora), I analyse the commitment of faith made with the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God by members of a network of worshippers formed by around 20 men aged between 18 and 45 years with low levels of schooling, living in favelas of Rio de Janeiro, in order to comprehend how the principles of neoliberal cosmology, adopted as central elements of Brazilian economic policy since the 1990s, have been incorporated by people from the poorest sectors of urban Brazil.

THE CHURCH AND THE ENVIRONMENT: ON BEING DOWN TO EARTH IN A CONSUMERIST ERA

Based on the premise that both anthropocentricism (humans over the environment) and patriarchy (men over women and children) operate as hierarchies to oppress and subjugate ‘others’, this article makes a connection between patriarchy and prosperity preaching by arguing that in both instances, biblical texts are used to ‘sanctify’ and sustain hierarchies of power. In order to develop my argument as it relates to hierarchical power, I engage insights gained from Feminist theology. Two case studies are presented as examples from popular current religious/ spiritual movements to illustrate how a hierarchy of power ‘presents itself’ as ‘naturally right’. I then explore the relationship between prosperity preaching and consumerism, and between BRICS2 and consumerism, respectively. Finally, an argument is made for the church to take seriously the fact that hierarchies such as patriarchy and anthropocentrism are made ‘palatable’ by a theology of prosperity - by exploring theologies that will bring Christians ‘down to earth’.

Warrior Chicks: Youthful Aging in a Postfeminist Prosperity Discourse

In a youth‐oriented evangelical congregation where being perceived as “old” might marginalize member involvement and participation, a Hollywood, California congregation's women's ministry, God Chicks, presents aging women as possessing “godly wisdom,” endowing older women with spiritually charged energy, authority, and responsibility for training younger women to live “godly” lives. Ethnographic research and in depth media analysis of the God Chicks ministry reveals a particularly energizing evangelical postfeminist orientation that applies prosperity theology to contemporary challenges of changing women's roles. Specifically, the God Chicks ministry provides “women over forty” with consumer and caretaking strategies for maintaining youthful selves and motivating younger women. A “God Chick” emerges as a compelling, youthful gendered religious identity that expects congregationally committed women to be strong, healthy, and active warriors who fight multiple relational and global humanitarian battles. Overall, this study demonstrates the construction of an innovative postfeminist evangelical identity through the tactical, opportunistic use of theological doctrine by ministry leaders within a particularistic geographic location.

Transformational Tithing

This article examines a controversy surrounding the theology of prosperity associated with neo-Pentecostalism: the aggressive soliciting of tithes from largely underclass worshippers, and the eagerness of those worshippers to respond beyond what seems financially sound. Drawing on ethnographic research among Cape Verdean immigrants in a Boston branch of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, I argue that a sense of empowerment often accompanies sacrificial tithing. This sense comes through the insertion of worshippers into multiple relations of reciprocity. Those whom I observed submitting to their pastor's calls to tithe should not, therefore, be glibly dismissed as victims of alienation or brainwashing. Their expressions of devotion are active and creative strategies of self-transformation in response to the precariousness of the migrant's life-world.

The Adaptability of Pentecostalism: The Fit between Prosperity Theology and Globalized Individualization in a Los Angeles Church

Abstract A main theme in the study of global Pentecostalism is its adaptability to the modern world system; yet, the way in which adaptability “works” is not well theorized. Hannah Arendt’s analysis of “the private and public realm” and Ulrich Beck’s description of “individualization and self-culture” offer heuristic frameworks for understanding how prosperity theology is well-suited to macro-historical patterns that address the growing individualization of everyday life, especially in relation to uncertain career paths and risk-oriented work structures. Arendt’s and Beck’s theoretical conceptualizations move away from sect-like notions of Pentecostals cultivating a bounded system among the non-Spirit-filled natives. Instead, their theoretical conceptualizations reveal Pentecostalism — especially in its prosperity orientation — to be fully compatible with individualization processes experienced by and demanded from today’s workers. A case study of the ministry of Oasis Christian Center to Hollywood entertainment industry workers illustrates connections between the Prosperity/Word of Faith orientation of the congregation and overarching processes of individualization.

I Double‐Dog Dare you in Jesus’ Name! Claiming Christian Wealth and the American Prosperity Gospel

AbstractSince the 1980s, prosperity gospel Christianity has exploded in its size and influence, with global television ministries like Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), Daystar Television Network, and The Word Network expanding the reach of the American‐born religion to every nation. Most popularly called the Faith movement many may recognize this form of Christianity by a variety of other labels, such as the Gospel of Wealth and Health, Word of Faith, Prosperity Theology, Name it and Claim it, Seed‐Faith, Abundant Life, or the more derisive Blab it and Grab it. Most observers associate the Faith movement with two teachings: first, God grants all his faithful followers physical health and financial prosperity; second, believers claim their divine right to wealth and health through positive confession, financial offerings, and the persistent faith that God must fulfill his promises. Promises of total transformation, concern over exploitation, and controversies over Biblical interpretation have made the prosperity gospel a topic of scholarly and popular interest. This article explores the history of the prosperity gospel, with particular emphasis on understanding the largest and most visible of these traditions, the Faith movement. Throughout, I will highlight scholarly literature critical for understanding the contemporary and historic development of the prosperity gospel and ministries that have coalesced around its optimistic message. As I explore relevant works on New Thought, African American religions, and the Faith movement, I hope to provide insight into central questions, possible pitfalls, and under‐investigated dimensions of the American prosperity gospel, and finally to gesture towards fruitful avenues for future inquiry.

Le Temple de la Restauration, analyse d’une dissidence néopentecôtiste au Cap-Vert

Every day more believers leave the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, covered with shame and debts. The “theology of prosperity” is not infallible and the most fervent faithful can end up broke without God having, as promised, rewarded their generous donations. For these disillusioned believers, there is nothing left. There is no social security or institution to turn to for compensation. Their financial contributions, which were supposed to be “spontaneous”, have long since left Brazil to feed the accounts of the Mother-Church or to fund other opaque investments. In the micro-world of Cape Verde, these numerous deserters quickly make the tour of the islands and find no shortage of listeners. It is thus not surprising that this “demand” saw the development, three years ago, of a Church that specifically aims to “restore” the faith of these so-called “victims” of the Neo-Pentecostal and, by extension, Evangelical system: the “Restoration Temple”. To this end, the American-based Church bases its discourse on similarity and opposition: the cult is identical to the Universal Church in its emotionalism and theatricality and its striving towards “liberation”, but it is built on a virulent criticism of its theology of prosperity and its exclusiveness.

The Significance of Glossolalia in the Apostolic Faith Mission, Zimbabwe

This study seeks to look at the meaning and significance of Glossolalia 1 in the Apostolic Faith Mission in Zimbabwe. 2 This paper has also been influenced by debates surrounding speaking in tongues in most of the Pentecostal churches in general and the Apostolic Faith Mission in Zimbabwe in particular. It was the Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM) that brought Pentecostalism to Zimbabwe. 3 The paper situates the phenomenon of glossolalia in the Zimbabwean socio-economic, spiritual, and cultural understanding. The Pentecostal teachings on the meaning and significance of speaking in tongues have caused a stir in psychological, linguistics, sociological, anthropological, ethnographical, philological, cultural, and philosophical debates. Yet those in the Apostolic Faith Mission in Zimbabwe argue that their concept of glossolalia is biblically rooted. Surprisingly non-glossolalist Christians also use the Bible to dismiss the pneumatic claims by Pentecostals. The emphasis on speaking in tongues in the AFM has rendered Zimbabwean ‘mainline’ churches like Anglicans, Catholics and Methodists as meaningless. This is the same with African Indigenous Churches which have also been painted with ‘fault-lines’, giving an upper hand to AFM in adding up to its ballooning number of followers. This is as a result of their restorationist perspective influenced by the history of the Pentecostal Churches that views all non-Pentecostal churches as having fallen from God's intentions through compromise and sin. The AFM just like other Pentecostal churches in Zimbabwe exhibit an aggressive assault and intolerance toward certain aspects of the African culture, which they label as tradition, 4 for example, traditional customs, like paying homage to ancestral spirits (Kurova Guva or bringing back the spirit of the dead ceremony), and marriage customs (polygamy, kusungira or sanctification of the first born ritual). The movement has managed to rid itself of the dominance of the male adults and the floodgates were opened to young men and women, who are the victims of traditional patriarchy. Besides glossolalia being one of the pillars of AFM doctrines, the following also bear some importance: personal testimonies, tithing, church weddings, signs/miracles, evangelism and prosperity theology.

Alguns fiéis da igreja universal do reino de Deus

O objetivo deste artigo é pensar sobre os processos de racionalização que operam na adesão à mensagem individualista da teologia da prosperidade. Para ampliar a compreensão do carisma desta vertente do cristianismo, são examinados elementos dispostos à subjetivação masculina, tais como aparecem para os integrantes de uma rede masculina de fiéis da Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus. Essa rede é formada por cerca de 20 homens em situação civil variada, com idades entre 18 e 45 anos, que vivem em favelas ou em ladeiras situadas nos limites entre a zona sul e o Centro da cidade do Rio de Janeiro, e têm baixa instrução. Em suas estratégias (privadas e individuais) para o enfrentamento dos dilemas que se lhes colocam e na urgência com que entre eles se impõem os desafios econômicos, reside rico conjunto de indícios para o entendimento da penetração da Igreja Universal nas camadas populares urbanas.

The prosperity gospel in Ghana and the primal imagination

This paper makes the assertion that despite the significant influence of American neo-pentecostalism in shaping prosperity theology in the charismatic churches in Ghana, it is crucial to note that the primal aspirations of prosperity also continue to play a significant role. Second, the thriving prosperity teaching in the charismatic ministries is largely due to the fact that the charismatics have tapped into fertile ground already nurtured by the traditional concept of prosperity, which is to be understood in terms of wealth, longevity and fertility or procreativity. In the African cosmology, the belief and pursuit of prosperity is paramount. Africans do not 'honour' or accept suffering or poverty, it is a battle they have always sought to fight, and the belief in the gods is primarily to ensure prosperity and well-being. Thus the influence of American-type prosperity teaching only served as a catalyst and also reinforced what was already prevailing in the matrix of the primal world-view. The focus of this prayer is centred on material prosperity, fertility (procreation) and long life (health), which cannot come about without the blessing of the divinities. Harmony with the divinities therefore becomes a prerequisite not only for physical and spiritual protection from evil forces but also for the enjoyment of good health, fertility and longevity.

The Preaching in the Theology of Prosperity and The one in the Theology of the Cross

The Preaching in the Theology of Prosperity and The one in the Theology of the Cross

“Health and Wealth” and the World Wide Web: Leading renewalist ministries’ use of Web to communicate social order

Renewalist Christian ministries espouse a “Health and Wealth” theology that is embraced by increasing numbers of believers. This study investigated leading renewalist ministries’ World Wide Web sites to assess their application of visual, operational, and informational enhancements to communicate social order. A content analysis revealed a communication of social order that is consistent with prosperity theology. Much emphasis is placed on the appearance and personality of the ministry leader. Almost no attention is paid to traditional Christian symbolism. Web sites claimed the value of inclusiveness, but offered little visual representation of children, senior adults, the poor, and people of color. Sites communicated the importance of regular financial donations and product purchases, but offered no encouragement for local church attendance. This research provides limited insight into some key unanswered scholarly questions about use of the Web by religious organizations, but more work is needed to investigate these issues in a broader context.

Catholics Rich in Spirit: El Shaddai’s Modern Engagements

Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in the Philippines, this article argues that El Shaddai, a popular Filipino Catholic charismatic movement, offers a unique and relevant religious option by straddling a “modern” and Pentecostal-like approach to spirituality, ritual, and Christian life, on the one hand, and a Catholic social identity and communal life, on the other. Although El Shaddai members, unlike Pentecostals, maintain many of the traditional social attachments of Filipino Catholicism, El Shaddai’s prosperity theology and mass mediated ritual forms contribute to divergent understandings of spiritual power and poverty, as well as a sense of demarginalization and self-determination.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ANDREW PERRIMAN'S FAITH, HEALTH AND PROSPERITY IN THE WORD OF FAITH DEBATE*

ABSTRACT A relatively recent report by Andrew Perriman from the UK Evangelical Alliance has brought some needed balance into the debate over the teaching and practice of the Word of Faith movement. Concerned that it has generally failed to receive a fair trial, Faith, Health and Prosperity seeks to understand and assess the faith movement as it presents itself today. Its hermeneutic and theology are thoroughly critiqued, and various concerns are raised about its ministry and ethics. Nevertheless, the report argues persuasively for a possible rapprochement between the Word of Faith and broader evangelical movements. Whilst the former is classified as 'heterodox' or 'suborthodox' and the absolutism of its doctrine of health and wealth is dismantled, the report concedes various weaknesses in the broader evangelical spectrum where it can learn from 'faith teaching', and the embryo of a more biblical theology of prosperity is conceived.

"Prosperidade" na década de 1990: etnografia do compromisso de trabalho entre Deus e o fiel da Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus

In the 1990s, when Brazil was experiencing trade opening, terms that were already dear to neo-liberal ideals such as competitiveness, entrepreneurship, and success slowly seeped into Brazilian society’s imagination. Meanwhile, there was a sharp rise in membership in the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, which defends the Theology of Prosperity. In this article I examine information gathered through an ethnographic survey of worshippers at a UCKG congregation in Rio de Janeiro in order to expand the understanding of the aspirations, dispositions, and experiences of these lower-income social actors who chose to embrace this religious faith in the 1990s.