Prosperity theology frames wealth as evidence of God’s blessing.
Evidence
Today, those in Pentecostal religious movements who subscribe to prosperity theology, also known as “Word of Faith,” “Health and Wealth,” or “Name It and Claim It,” pursue wealth and spend lavishly because they believe God wants them to be rich. According to Edith Blumhofer, director of Wheaton College’s Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals, “You don’t have to give up the American Dream. You just see it as a sign of God’s blessing.” For example, George Adams, a car salesman who subscribes to this theory, sold a Ford F-150 pickup truck with a leather interior. “It’s a new day God has given me!” he shouted. “I’m on my way to a six-figure income!” The implicit message is, and has long been, that wealth means we are favored by the gods (if not that we are gods ourselves). — Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski, The Worm at the Core, 444
Categorization
- DEFINE: Defines and names ‘prosperity theology’ along with its synonyms and the psychological function it serves.
- SHARE: The car salesman celebrating a leather-seat F-150 as ‘a new day God has given me’ is a perfect vignette to send to someone interested in American religion or consumer culture.
- XREF: connects to: God defines good works by their source, not their visible content — Chuck Missler, The Kingdom, Power and Glory: The…, 612; Adherents explain prosperity as reward for national fidelity to the Bible — Andrew L. Whitehead; Samuel L. Perry, Taking America Back for God, 150; Theological conviction bundles economic privilege with political favor — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers: Inside the…, 219
Related
- Prosperity gospel frames wealth as God’s blessing and poverty as punishment (similarity 0.80)
- Early American Calvinists read wealth as a sign of divine favor. (similarity 0.80)
- Theological conviction bundles economic privilege with political favor (similarity 0.79)