The Prosperity Gospel's Shallow Preaching

Anne Turner, Michael O'Hanlon

Society, Americas

The prosperity gospel is full of promises, but lacking in consolations.

At the Washington National Cathedral on January 21, President Donald Trump participated in the traditional inauguration prayer service, and he included a member of the clergy who represents his own ideology and background: the “prosperity gospel.” This vein of doctrine in modern Christianity that argues that God will reward those whom he favors, not only in the afterlife, but here on Earth as well. Material wealth is thus both a sign and a result of God’s blessing.

This way of thinking has important policy implications. It can influence everything from Trump’s views on health care and Medicaid reform, to other anti-poverty debates at home, to the current refugee crisis abroad, to immigration policy. To the extent that Trump views it as part of his defining political philosophy, it should be scrutinized and measured against the standards of the faith from which it derives before being used to advance any particular political agenda.

To be fair, the prosperity gospel does have some Gospel buried in it. Those of the Abrahamic faiths, and many others as well, believe that God created this magnificent earth for human beings to enjoy. From the time when God made the earth and “saw that it was good,” to the deliverance of the Jewish people to their promised land, to the worldwide promises offered by the angels in the Christmas narrative, this well-endowed planet was clearly intended to be a place of blessing. To the extent to which the prosperity gospel reminds us of this, it is indeed consistent with God’s purposes and his love for all of us.

But blessing is not the whole story. It is not only people of faith who recognize that something went wrong with creation. The Abrahamic religions center their writings and teachings on how to address the brokenness we find on Earth. The promise of afterlife is about reaching a place where the ills of this existence are repaired. In Christian teaching, Jesus himself died on a cross to make possible the repair of humanity’s relationship with God, so profound was the wound.