HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies ISSN: (Online) 2072-8050, (Print) 0259-9422 Page 1 of 8
Original Research
‘Prosperity theology’: Poverty and implications for socio-economic development in Africa Author: Dodeye U. Williams1,2 Affiliations: 1 Department of Political Science, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria College of Human Sciences, Institute of Gender Studies, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa 2
Corresponding author: Dodeye Williams, williamsdodeye@yahoo.com Dates: Received: 09 June 2022 Accepted: 10 Aug. 2022 Published: 30 Nov. 2022 How to cite this article: Williams, D.U., 2022, ‘“Prosperity theology”: Poverty and implications for socio-economic development in Africa’, HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 78(1), a7818. https://doi. org/10.4102/hts.v78i1.7818 Copyright: © 2022. The Author. Licensee: AOSIS. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.
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Poverty is a complex subject in traditional African cultures. It is the lack of provision to satisfy the basic human needs of the population. The prosperity gospel as part of Pentecostal Christianity, with origins in the United States of America, presents itself as a new model for poverty eradication. Pentecostal Christianity and the proliferation of Pentecostal churches in Africa, many of whom are adherents of prosperity theology over a period of more than three decades, have not translated to a more prosperous continent, and sub-Saharan Africa is still notably one of the poorest regions of the world. Poverty is a concept with many dimensions that attempts to ascertain the varying degrees of deprivation experienced by populations, individually or collectively. However, certain subjective and sometimes arbitrary interpretations of biblical texts on prosperity as the basis for prosperity theology have encouraged capitalist impulses that often supplant the pursuit of spiritual advantages, leading instead to an increase in crimes including robbery, financial fraud, kidnapping, ritual killings and many other social vices. This article examines the different perspectives of the prosperity gospel, the biblical sources and interpretations used as well as its interpretation of poverty. It shows how prosperity theology, with its own interpretation of poverty, erodes the valuable indigenous resources available to fight poverty within African religious communities, which emphasise community, positive family attachments, social support networks, moral values and accountability, and it examines the implications this has for socio-economic development in Africa. Contribution: This article challenges the theology of prosperity that characterises Pentecostal Christianity and is pervasive in Africa. It contributes to the discourse on how the challenges of poverty require the more community-centred approaches that traditional African values offer as against the self-centredness and greed promoted by the prosperity theology. Keywords: prosperity gospel; Africa; poverty; socio-economic development; culture.
Introduction The descriptions of the nature of poverty are inextricably linked to the efforts societies make to alleviate it (Desmond & Wester 2018). The prevalent narrative about poverty in every culture has a big impact on how people think it should be handled. In other words, how poverty is conceptualised, and subsequently measured, not only affects how the challenge is understood but also dictates policy direction and actions (Saunders 2015). Poverty is often discussed from an economic perspective (Martinez Jr & Peralez 2017), with implications for how its challenges are being tackled, particularly in Africa. For instance, it often refers to a situation in which someone’s income is so insufficient as to make it impossible for them to enjoy a reasonable level of life, and it exists when people’s actual income is below the poverty line (Saunders et al. 2007:viii). Scholars like Townsend (1979) define poverty not only as a lack of money or material possessions but also as a lack of access to resources, which makes it extremely difficult for people to participate in and be accepted by larger social groups. This deprivation approach, which forces the question of the extent to which people’s living standards match the current social climate (Reeves, Panel & Liu 2020), is better suited to the African poverty situation. The majority of the world’s poor live in lower-middle-income nations, resource-dependent nations and fragile conflict-affected states like those in Africa, notably sub-Saharan Africa, and South Asia (Touray 2016:1). Socio-economic deprivation, particularly poverty, has contributed to insecurity and instability in Africa (Newman 2006). While the majority of the literature concentrates on deprivation indicators like income, food, access to housing and some others, the selection of indicators to access levels of deprivation can Note: Special Collection: Reception of Biblical Discourse, sub-edited by Itumeleng Mothoagae (University of South Africa).
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