Is the Prosperity Gospel, Gospel? An Examination of the Prosperity and Productivity Gospels in African Christianity
Date
2022
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
South African Theological Seminary
Abstract
The teaching of the Prosperity Gospel is widespread
throughout African Christianity-especially within African
Initiated/Independent Churches (AICs) and Pentecostal
churches. For many, it is only a natural expression of biblical
teachings on abundant life from the viewpoint of Africa's
holistic worldviews. For others, it arises as an extension of
the deliverance theology of Pentecostals. Why should God
not deliver us not only from sin and sickness, but from
poverty as well? Others look at what seem to be the clear
abuses of certain well-known (and financially well off)
prosperity teachers and cry, heresy! But are African
expressions of the Prosperity Gospel heretical? Or are
they orthodox, or perhaps heterodox? Both Scripture and
historical Christian tradition reflect an ambivalence toward
material wealth, at times seeing it as a blessing and at times
as a danger. Reflecting on Scripture in the context
of years of pastoral experience in Africa and recent
discussions with scholars, missionaries, and local
church leaders, this essay is built upon a hybrid
methodology of integrative literature review and
narrative literature review. After reviewing biblical
teachings on wealth and possessions, it reviews the
literature on the Prosperity Gospel in Africa and
discovers that in some African contexts an adaptation
of prosperity teachings, the Productivity Gospel, has
arisen to address the same set of questions. Borrowing
emphases from Prosperity theology on abundant life
and Pentecostal theologies of empowerment, with the
accountability of a Weberian work ethic in the context
of a holistic African worldview, the Productivity Gospel
provides a message of hope and an opportunity for
a redemptive (and economic) uplift while avoiding
problematic praxis.
Description
Keywords
Prosperity gospel, Productivity gospel, African worldviews, Church in Africa