Prosperity Theology: The Materialisation of Faith

Prosperity Theology contains a dirty little secret – that it possesses a kernel of truth. And this is an intuition that God cares – about our personal and material lives; which entails an active Divine opposition to everything that demeans our existence – in this case: illness and poverty.

Here it’s similar to another Twentieth Century theological development – Liberation Theology. Together, these re-introduced a ‘materialisation of faith’. While Prosperity Theology was individualistic and politically conservative, and Liberation Theology collectivist and left-wing, both highlighted the rediscovery of eschatology, specifically the doctrine of the Kingdom of God.

Prosperity Theology's Dirty Little Secret

It’s common for evangelicals to decry so-called ‘prosperity theology’ or ‘health and wealth teaching’. Many of us have had to pick up the pieces of people, whose hopes have been raised, and then dashed, by false promises of financial provision or physical healing. For some, this has led to a rejection of Christianity as such, because they now identify the faith with this particular distorted deviation.

Maslow's Pyramid

When I arrived in London, and learned about urban mission, one the chief influences on the scene, taught to me as a key for our task in the inner city, was Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. There are, he taught, a series of needs, which must be met, for a person to progress in their life.

It begins with basic physical survival, and progresses through safety and material security; love, relationships and belonging; self-esteem and recognition; to self-actualisation and creativity. Only when someone feels secure at a lower level, can they turn their attention to the upper levels.

Preventing Revival

There seem to be many initiatives at the moment aimed at revival in the church: including evangelistic campaigns and prayer gatherings. This is nothing new. I remember similar calls, during my student days in the 1970s. And there have been regular cycles of revivalistic enthusiasm at internals during my ministry life: from the New Churches in the 1980s, to prophetic predictions in the 1990s.

The Berlin Wall and Christian Dissent

Recently it was the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which harbinged the collapse of Communism throughout Eastern Europe. This celebration also highlighted the role of dissent, which involved different ideological positions, including many Christian intellectuals.

Do we not need an underground Christian resistance movement in the contemporary West? Of course, we do not live under a totalitarian regime. But we do live in one that is ‘totalising’. Totalitarianism is a deliberate system of ideological conformity. In the West, under cover of official pluralism, we inhabit a totalising system which imposes a single view of reality.

LGBTQ+ Only Connect

I recently met with a local LGTQ+ leader; to see how he viewed Christianity, and build bridges across the cultural divide. His main gripe was, understandably, the mental illness among gay people, including the amount of self-harm, plus the discrimination and violence they experience. Conservative Christians, he thought, contribute to this anti-gay feeling in society; so he wondered if we could change our theology, and accept same-sex marriage?

At a recent Street Level Theology session (our monthly theology class at KCBC), on same-sex relationships, someone asked: although we have this conservative theology, can we avoid exacerbating the prejudice and problems faced by gay people? It requires, I think, intentional, concrete, actions, rather than well-meaning, but vague, sentiments of sympathy.

Among the Polemicists?

I’m surprised that my two latest blogposts propelled me into the realm of polemics, criticising the views of other Christians. I feel uneasy with that. I don’t enjoy conflict, and shy away from it, whenever I can. I also don’t like it when people criticise me; this made me decide not to respond to negative comments on social media.

I do think, however, that we must confront error when we see it. And not only concerning issues of obvious error. There needs to be robust debate within the church about the application of truth. We must not be afraid of respectful discussion and dialogue. The only problem is that if we are ready to dish it out, we ought also to be able to take it as well: myself included.