Ben Witherington has posted a helpful critique of the prosperity gospel (in addendum to Time's recent article). He writes:
The health and wealth Gospel is a profoundly American Gospel, especially connected to blue collar Protestant religion, that thrives on the rags to riches mythology of our culture in general.
He goes on to draw attention to the fact that prosperity gospel is curiously unsuccessful in societies in abject poverty, but seemingly fascinating as long as there is a "glimmer of hope of improving one's lot in life, coupled with considerable inequities between the uber-wealthy and the poor". One is reminded of the frequently quoted excoriation of religion:
Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.
— Karl Marx
Sadly, the prosperity gospel fits Marx's view of religion to the letter. Its preachers are financially successful at the cost of their followers. In fact, it would not be difficult to view it in terms of oppression and class struggle, except that in America it is often the middle class who are its strongest supporters. On its own terms, then, the prosperity gospel should leave us deeply uneasy.
But the true tragedy is that by offering financial hope that is theologically groundless, the prosperity gospel gags the proclamation of a living hope that is good news for rich and poor alike.
September 19th, 2006 at 10.25 pm
Have been enjoying reading your blog – very thought-provoking. However I’d take issue with the assertion that prosperity gospel is not appealing in places of abject poverty – I came across the most extreme version of it I’ve ever encountered in Liberia, currently too poor to even make it onto the UN rankings of comparative national affluence. I winced through sermon after sermon of promises of material gain, and freedom from sickness (even freedom from rain!) if only we would claim it in Christ. I particularly remember one scene of being told to recite with the pastor “I’m the head, not the tail!” repeatedly whilst miming the actions… Needless to say we didn’t. However it might be worth blaming all this on the lack of theological training available in the poorest nations, rather than any particular economic appeal of the prosperity gospel.
September 20th, 2006 at 5.17 pm
Thank you, Rosie, for your thoughts. I think you may have the right of it. I was certainly confused by Witherington’s statement that the prosperity gospel “really does not preach well in impoverished countries like Zimbabwe where I go to teach and preach from time to time.”
I think there is much that is not right in what Witherington said. For example, he lists ten reasons why God doesn’t want Christians to be wealthy. But, as others have pointed out, we must be careful not to steer so far away from the reef of the prosperity gospel that we are caught by the rip-tide of intentional poverty. Wealth can be a blessing from God.
But the core of Witherington’s point is a good one, well encapsulated in these words from Rich Warren, quoted in the Time article:
September 20th, 2006 at 6.36 pm
Absolutely. As always, the Bible has it all; you just need to look it up!: “give me neither poverty nor riches” (Proverbs 30:8). This said, the emphasis in the Western world ought to be seriously laid on the “nor riches” bit, I reckon.
September 20th, 2006 at 7.32 pm
There is a helpful discussion on Witherington’s ‘blog; one commenter observed:
September 20th, 2006 at 7.40 pm
Yes indeed. The verse I quoted actually continues: “but give me only my daily bread”. This is what it means for Solomon to be neither rich nor poor. It is not abnormal to re-evaluate this somewhat in our societies; but the fact that so many Christians would never regard themselves as rich might be even more worrying than the fact that they actually are.
Mr. Booth has the right perspective: start not from the average, but from nothing — and so see everything that you have as a gift to be received with gratitude, rather than a step to close the gap with what you believe yourself to be entitled to.