What is the gospel? “Gospel” is a word that means “good news.” It was originally used to describe the Christian message as a whole, and it still is, but it is also the term used to refer to the books in which that message is taught, which is the first four books in the New Testament. The gospel message can vary depending on who you ask and what they believe, but the most basic gospel message of Christianity is this – Jesus Christ was God’s Son in human form. He came to earth as a man, He died on the cross in order to pay the penalty for the sins of the entire world, and He rose from the dead three days later. He did all of this so that anyone who would like to can accept Jesus as their Savior. They can believe all of this, and they can turn away from their sin, and in effect, they will go to Heaven when they die. Those who don’t will go to Hell when they die. This is the gospel message according to the Bible.
Now that we have all of this information, what is the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel? Also referred to as prosperity theology, the prosperity gospel, and the health and wealth gospel, this “gospel” is a belief system that has boomed over the last couple decades in America. This prosperity theology is a religious belief among some who self-identify as Protestant Christians financial blessing and physical well-being are always the will of God for them. That believe that remaining faithful to the Lord, always speaking positively, and always donating generously will increase one’s material wealth. Many of the largest churches in America have been accused of preaching and teaching prosperity theology, and many of them are. After all, who wouldn’t want to worship a God who promised you that you would get rich and stay healthy if you followed Him? I know I would! The problem is, that isn’t really the gospel that the Bible teaches. For this blog, I am going to do my case study on the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel movement.
Something important to note about this movement is that these terms I will be using to describe this movement (prosperity theology, prosperity gospel, health and wealth gospel) were labels given to these preachers and these churches by others who believe they are teaching their congregation a false version of the gospel. The ones who have been accused of preaching a health, wealth, and prosperity gospel don’t think of themselves that way because they believe they are preaching the gospel of the Bible. Therefore, when I refer to them as a group or a movement, they are not a self-identified group or movement. They are a movement or belief system that has been created by the ones teaching it and identified and named by the ones opposed to it. With that being said, let’s dive into our case study.
Legitimation
We learned early on in this unit that legitimations are used to essentially answer unanswerable questions. Martin writes, “What happens when ‘That’s just the way things are’ doesn’t suffice as an answer? What happens when individuals probe further and require further justifications? This is when societies turn to what scholars call ‘legitimation.’ Legitimations offer some sort of justification for conformity to a practice, and they often involve appeals to what the gods or sacred texts say” (p. 103). Martin goes on to talk about a related term that he calls “manufacturing consent.” He writes, “People don’t always want to do what they are told, but one can manufacture their consent by convincing them that they must, that it’s inevitable they comply, or that there will be supernatural consequences if they do not” (p. 104). Then, the majority of the rest of his chapter is centered around legitimation and how it pertains to social order and social hierarchy.
How is legitimation used by those who preach and teach the prosperity gospel? As I mentioned beforehand, these health and wealth gospel people identify as Protestant Christians, so their primary sacred text is the Bible. Some would argue that all sects of Protestant Christianity are guilty of legitimation because of their use of the Bible or Jesus as a defense against or for just about anything. I personally do not think that this prosperity gospel group is guilty of manufacturing consent, at least no more than any other Protestant Christian groups who are opposed to the prosperity gospel. However, I do think they use legitimation to create social order and hierarchy. Let’s think about it. If these people teach that God will bless you financially and physically as long as you are faithful to Him, what would they conclude about someone who is poor or who is physically ill? They would say that you aren’t a Christian. They would say that you haven’t been faithful to God and you haven’t been giving money to your church faithfully, and that is why you are struggling financially or physically. This is what they teach. They use their “gospel” to create a social order financially. If you have money, awesome. You are obviously living for God. If you don’t have money, then you are doing something wrong. They use legitimation in this way to create division and social order among people.
Authority
Martin begins his chapter on authority like this: “Appeals to authority are found in all cultural traditions. When people ask the ‘why do we do it this way’ question and demand an answer, the answers offered-designed to legitimate or manufacture consent to social order-are almost always linked to locally authoritative figures, texts, icons, symbols, and so on” (p. 121). Practically every sect of Protestant Christianity throughout all of history has had two major holders of authority: the Bible, their authoritative text, and Jesus, their absent authoritative figure. How can they use this authority for their benefit? As I mentioned before, many people have accused Protestant Christianity as a whole of using this concept to get people to do things or not do things. In this specific case, I think that the prosperity people, specifically the pastors, are able to manipulate and use authority in a way that makes them the most money. They tell people that if you are a Christian, you will be blessed financially and physically. However, in order to receive the fullness of that blessing, you need to give very generously to the church (aka the pastor of that church). It is a perfect trap. Get people to believe that God will bless them if they give me money, and they will never stop giving me money. This is an obvious manipulation of authority.
Authenticity
Authenticity is the focal point of this entire religious movement. Both the health and wealth people, as well as the ones opposed to the health and wealth people, consider themselves Protestant Christians. However, the ones who oppose the prosperity gospel are extremely adamant about the fact that the gospel they preach is biblical and true, whereas the gospel that the prosperity people preach is a false gospel. Who is the real, authentic Christian here? Who is teaching the right gospel? The interesting thing about these contradictions is that they both believe just about the same when it comes to your actions. Living faithfully to God, speaking positively, and giving to your church are all things that are promoted by most every Protestant Christian. The reward is what is disputed. Health and wealth people say you will be rewarded with material wealth. The others say that it is wrong to tell people that because it says that nowhere in the Bible. The very core of this entire issue that I decided to write about is authenticity. Who is preaching the “right” gospel and who is preaching the “wrong” gospel?
I have thoroughly enjoyed this unit and Martin’s book. I feel like this class has gotten better and better every single unit, and the resources have gotten better and more interesting every unit. This unit really challenged the way that I thought about religion in its entirety. I really enjoyed thinking through these concepts of legitimation, authority, and authenticity and applying them to something of my choice.
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