As we know, the prosperity gospel focuses upon material and physical "blessings." We also know how a focus upon these material and physical blessings gets twisted and distorted. We see prosperity gospel preachers living in ostentatious luxury and claiming their wealth to be a sign of God's favor. We see how these same preachers ask for donations as the "first fruits" so that their financial supporters will experience a "hundredfold" return. Tithe to me, here and now, and tomorrow God will fill your barns to overflowing. We also see the members of prosperity gospel churches captured by these same visions, where riches are equated with and justified as signs of God's favor. Idols are tricky that way. You become what you worship. And if you worship wealth and success, the outcomes are predictable.
So, lest there be any misunderstanding, all this is horrible and twisted. I'll join you in criticizing the abuses of the prosperity gospel and how it distorts the Christian faith. And yet, I don't want to stand at an elite distance to level (very legitimate) criticisms at the prosperity gospel without coming to understand its appeal to those on the economic margins of society. Because if the prosperity gospel is a distortion of Biblical faith, it possesses a core truth. Because you can't twist something that isn't there in the first place.
Here's the core Biblical truth behind the prosperity gospel: Salvation concerns your material conditions. What's fascinating about this is how elite theological reflection has been making this point for a generation or more. Salvation is embodied. Salvation is incarnated. Salvation concerns this world as much as the next. Salvation should not be over-spiritualized. Salvation isn't Platonic but material. For decades, elite theological conversation has been turning away from over-spiritualized and Platonic visions of salvation and the Kingdom of God to bring attention to how God cares about material conditions here and now on this earth.
Biblically, this focus upon material prosperity is the vision of the Old Testament. As you know, the Old Testament doesn't have a vision of heaven, hell, and the afterlife. God's favor and reward are, rather, experienced as gifts and blessings in this life. So when the prosperity preachers preach, they have the entire Old Testament in their corner.
But here is where the differences begin to emerge. When elite theological discussion highlights the material implications of salvation, they talk about social justice. Salvation involves dealing with material oppressions. When elite theological discussion talks about salvation becoming "over-spiritualized" they are talking about how the church cannot ignore the poor and oppressed of the earth.
In this sense, elite theological discussion does preach the prosperity gospel. When justice and economic equality are achieved everyone will materially prosper and flourish. (BTW, elite theological conversation prefers the word "flourishing" over "prosperity.") The prosperity gospel--the material flourishing of the poor and oppressed--is the entire point of being a social justice warrior. That's what Marxism is, after all: the prosperity gospel.
All that to say, it should be obvious why poor people would be attracted to this (very Biblical) message. God cares about your material conditions. On this point, the prosperity preachers and the social justice warriors agree.
The critical difference between these two points of view concerns the means by which improved material conditions come about in the world. When social justice warriors talk about improving the material conditions of the oppressed they talk about changing unjust political and economic structures. Change those structures and material fortunes improve. But for a poor person who can't pay their rent this month, they can't wait for long-promised but perpetually delayed policy changes. The rent is due at the end of the month. And so, they pray to God. They need the material "blessing" to arrive directly and immediately. They cannot wait upon Washington, DC to get its act together.
That prosperity preachers manipulate this material and economic desperation is tragic. But the states capitalize on it as well with their lottery tickets. As do payday loan businesses. My point, though, isn't about how material and economic desperation makes people vulnerable to exploitation, religious or secular. My point is that material and economic desperation drives attraction for the prosperity gospel. Back to Kate Bowler, among the oppressed classes of society attraction to the prosperity gospel isn't due to "toxic positivity." Nor are the oppressed classes neurotically exhausted by elite visions of self-improvement and human perfectibility. The poor can't afford Botox or gym memberships. The poor aren't exhausted keeping up with Jones'. The poor don't have to aggressively position their kids for success for sports travel teams and elite universities. The poor just need to pay the rent at the end of the month. And so, they pray to God. And if the money comes, well, praise God for that blessing.
And so, let me suggest, here is a little discussed contrast between the materialism of elite social justice Christianity versus the materialism of the prosperity gospel among the poor: Praying for rent money.
If you can't pay the rent this month, you don't have time for the social justice warriors to complete their political revolution. Because at the end of the day, everyone cares about the same thing, both the social justice warrior and the prosperity gospel. Everyone cares about getting the rent paid. Elites, though, want the rent to get paid through better political and economic policies. More affordable housing and better wages. Get those changes in place, and you can pay the rent. For the poor, though, the situation is more urgent and time-sensitive. They need the rent paid by the end of the month. Consequently, the poor turn to God for help. Psychologically and biblically, this is understandable. And yet, this sort of thing is regularly held up to elite ridicule: "Praying for rent money to magically show up! How superstitious!"
The same contrast can be made about health issues. Elites want universal access to quality health care. Again, the Kingdom of God concerns the healing of physical bodies along with our souls. But what if you currently don't have access to health care? You can't wait on the politicians. So, you'll turn to God. You'll pray for healing. And again, this becomes a target for elite ridicule: "Ha! You can't pray cancer away. How silly!"
What I'm pointing out here is this. Both the elite and the poor agree that God cares about our material and physical conditions. But where the imagination of the elite is disenchanted and political, the imagination of the poor is enchanted and supernatural. And the division here is largely driven by economic and material urgency as experienced among the poor, which elites are largely protected from due to their material affluence.
Or, stated more simply: If you've never prayed for rent money you don't understand the prosperity gospel.
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