Pentecostalism, the Prosperity Gospel, and Poverty in Africa

Ijaola, Samson O.

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-74911-2_8

Samson O. Ijaola⁶

Part of the book series: African Histories and Modernities ((AHAM))

438 Accesses

Abstract

Ijaola argues in this chapter that, notwithstanding the prevalence of the prosperity gospel, the number of people living in poverty has been on the increase in Africa. The chapter uses historical criticism to examine the trajectory and performance of Pentecostalism and the prosperity gospel vis-à-vis the reality of poverty in Africa. It observes a paradigm shift from theology of “claim it and have it” to “work and have it” by faith. Pentecostal preachers in Africa, while striving to mitigate poverty, also encourage business and philanthropic engagements. Ijaola concludes that the promise of the prosperity gospel is yet to be fulfilled in Africa.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Chapter: USD 29.95; Price excludes VAT (USA)

eBook: USD 119.00; Price excludes VAT (USA)

Softcover Book: USD 159.99; Price excludes VAT (USA)

Hardcover Book: USD 159.99; Price excludes VAT (USA)

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

1.
Matt. 17:27 (King James).
2.
The World Bank, African Development Indicators 2012/2013 (Washington, DC: International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, 2013), accessed March 30, 2017, https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/13504/9780821396162.pdf?sequence=1, p. 3.
3.
The World Bank, Africa Development Indicators 2012/13, p. 5.
4.
World Bank, “Poverty and Equity: Regional Indicators Data Bank” (The World Bank Group, 2017), accessed March 30, 2017, http://povertydata.worldbank.org/poverty/region/EAP.
5.
David Yamane, “Charismatic Movement,” in Encyclopedia of Religion and Society (Walnut Creek: Alta Mira Press, 1998), accessed August 15, 2016, http://hirr.hartsem.edu/ency/cmovement.htm.
6.
David J. Engelsman, “Pentecostalism: What Is It?” Last modified November 11, 2001, accessed August 15, 2016, http://www.prca.org/pamphlets/pamphlet_91d.html.
7.
Engelsman, “Pentecostalism: What Is It?”
8.
Ibid.
9.
Ibid.
10.
Ibid.
11.
Robert Longman, “Pentecostalist Pre History: What Led to the Pentecostal Revivals,” last modified, July 17, 2015, accessed August 14, 2016, http://www.spirithome.com/pentecostalist-history.html.
12.
Ibid.
13.
Ibid.
14.
Ibid.
15.
Ibid.
16.
Ibid.
17.
Ibid.
18.
Ibid.
19.
Ibid.
20.
Ibid.
21.
Allan Anderson, “The Origins of Pentecostalism and Its Spread in the Early Twentieth Century” (Lecture, Oxford Centre for Missions Studies, Graduate Institute for Theology and Religion, University of Birmingham, October 5, 2004).
22.
Anderson, p. 11.
23.
Ibid., pp. 11–12.
24.
Ibid., p. 1.
25.
Ogbu U. Kalu, A Discursive Interpretation of African Pentecostalism, p. 5.
26.
Ogbu U. Kalu, “A Trail of Ferment in African Christianity: Ethiopianism, Prophetism, Pentecostalism,” in African identities and World Christianity in the Twentieth Century: Proceeding of the Third International Munic–Freising Conference on the History of Christianity in Non-Western World, ed. Klaus Koschorke & Je Holger Schjøring (Wiesbaden: Otto Narrassowitz Vetlag, 2005), p. 1.
27.
Kalu, “A Trail of Ferment in African Christianity …,” p. 37.
28.
Ibid.
29.
Ibid.
30.
Ibid.
31.
Ibid.
32.
The Apostolic Faith Mission, S.A “Important Milestone,” accessed July 7, 2017, http://www.afm-ags.org/history.
33.
The Apostolic Faith West and Central Africa, “The Chronology of the History of the Apostolic Faith in Africa,” accessed July 23, 2016, http://www.afm-ags.org/history.
34.
The Foursquare Church Nigeria, “The History of the Church in Nigeria,” accessed July 27, 2016, foursquare.org.ng/our-history/html.
35.
Dominic Umoh, “Prosperity Gospel and the Spirit of Capitalism: The Nigerian Story,” African Journal of Scientific Research 12, no. 3 (2013): 657.
36.
Umoh, “Prosperity Gospel,” 657.
37.
Ibid.
38.
David Oyedepo, Understanding Financial Prosperity (Lagos: Dominion Publishers, 1997), 3.
39.
David Oyedepo, Winning the War against Poverty (Lagos: Dominion Publishers, 2006), 5.
40.
George Folarin, “The Prosperity Gospel in Nigeria: A Re-examination of the Concept, Its impact and Evaluation,” Cyberjournal for Pentecostal-Charismatic Research Sec 2 & 3.
41.
Larry Eskridge, “The Poverty Gospel Is Surprisingly Mainstream,” Christian Today, (2013): 1–5. http://www.christiantoday.com/ct/2013/august.htmel.star=1.
42.
Nkechi Rotimi, Kanayo Nwadialor & Alex Ugwuja, “Nigerian Pentecostal Churches and their Prosperity Messages: A Safeguard against Poverty in Nigeria,” Mgbakiogba, Journal of African Studies 5, no. 2 (2016): 10.
43.
Rotimi et al., “Prosperity Messages,” 12.
44.
Ibid.
45.
Ibid.
46.
Ron MacTavish, “Pentecostal Profits: The Prosperity Gospel in the Global South” (master’s thesis, University of Lethbridge, 2013), 14, http://www.uleth.ca/dspace/bitstream/handle/10133/3527/Pentecostal%Profits-The%Prosperity%Gospel%20in%20the%Global%20South.pdf?Sequence=1&isAllowed=Y
47.
Kenneth Hagin, The Midas Touch: A Balanced Approach to Biblical Prosperity (Oklahoma: Rhema Bible Church, 2000), 152.
48.
Hagin, Midas Touch, 151.
49.
Ibid.
50.
Naomi Haynes, “Affordance and Audiences Finding Difference Christianity Makes,” Current Anthropology 55, Sno. 10 (2014): S360, http://about.jstor/org/stable/10:108667885.
51.
Eskridge, “The Poverty Gospel,” Sec 4.
52.
MacTavish, “Pentecostal Profits,” 18–19.
53.
MacTavish, “Pentecostal Profits,” 20.
54.
MacTavish, “Pentecostal Profits,” 22.
55.
Ibid.
56.
Ibid., 23.
57.
Ibid.
58.
Eskridge, “The Poverty Gospel,” Sec 2.
59.
MacTavish, “Pentecostal Profits,” 22.
60.
Adebayo, “How Prosperity Gospel Started and Spread to the Whole World,” Sunday1967.com (blog), October 9, 2011, http:/Sunday1967.blogspot.com.ng/2011/10/…html. Sec 2.
61.
Adebayo, “Prosperity Gospel Started,” Sec 4.
62.
MacTavish, “Pentecostal Profits,” 17.
63.
Efe Ehioghae & Joseph Olarewaju, “A Theological Evaluation of the Utopian Image of Prosperity Gospel and the African Dilemma,” IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science 20, no. 8 (2015): 66–75. http:www.iosrjournals.org, 71.
64.
Adebayo, “Prosperity Gospel Started,” Sec 6.
65.
MacTavish, “Pentecostal Profits,” 118.
66.
MacTavish, “Pentecostal Profits,” 120.
67.
MacTavish, “Pentecostal Profits,” 27.
68.
MacTavish, “Pentecostal Profits,” 121.
69.
MacTavish, “Pentecostal Profits,” 122.
70.
MacTavish, “Pentecostal Profits,” 126.
71.
Adebayo, “Prosperity Gospel Started,” Sec 4.
72.
MacTavish, 125.
73.
MacTavish, 124.
74.
MacTavish, 125.
75.
MacTavish, 124.
76.
MacTavish, 27.
77.
MacTavish, 126.
78.
Ogaga Ifowodo, “God’s Private Jets,” Vanguard, November 28, 2012.
79.
Ehioghae and Olarewaju, Utopian Image of Prosperity, 71.
80.
World Bank, Development Report, 2001.
81.
C.T. Kurien, Poverty, Planning and Social Transformation (Mumbai: Allied Publishers, 1978), 56.
82.
Oluwaseyi Oyekan, “Poverty And the Philosophy of Aid in Africa: Beyond Odera Oruka’s Theory of the Right to a Human Minimum,” Though and Practice: Journal of the Philosophical Association of Kenya 5, no. 2 (2013): 19–34. http://www.ajol.info/index.php/tp/article/download/104302/94390.
83.
Deepa Naraya and Petesh Patti, “Voices of the Poor from Many Lands” (World Bank Report, 2002).
84.
Kathleen Beegle, et al., eds. “Introduction,” in Poverty Rising in Africa (World Bank Report, 2015), 22.
85.
Beegle et al., Poverty Rising in Africa, 22.
86.
Beegle et al., Poverty Rising in Africa, 49.
87.
Beegle et al., Poverty Rising in Africa, 22.
88.
Beegle et al., “Poverty from a Nonmonetary Perspective,” in Poverty Rising in Africa (World Bank Report, 2015), 84.
89.
Beegle et al., “Revisiting Poverty Trend,” in Poverty Rising in Africa (World Bank Report, 2015), 57.
90.
National Economic Empowerment Development Scheme (2004) National Planning Commission Publication.
91.
Ogbu Kalu, “A Discursive Interpretations of African Pentecostalism,” 41, no. 1 (2009): 14.
92.
Ibid.
93.
Ibid.
94.
Ibid.
95.
Ibid.
96.
Ibid.
97.
Paul Gifford, “Healing in African Pentecostalism: The Victorious Living of David Oyedepo,” in Global Pentecostal and Charismatic Healing, ed. Candy Gunther Brown (https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195393408.003.0013).
98.
Gifford, “Healing in African Pentecostalism,” 251–252.
99.
Ogbu Kalu, “A Discursive Interpretation,” 14.
100.
Ogbu Kalu, “A Discursive Interpretation,” 17.
101.
Ibid.
102.
Ibid., 17.
103.
MacTavish, “Pentecostal Profits,” 141.
104.
Living Faith Church, “Education,” accessed October 1, 2016, http://faithtabernacle.org.ng/?p=229.
105.
Ogaga Ifowodo, “God’s Private Jets,” Vanguard, November 28, 2012.
106.
Daniel and Fola Biotechnology Foundation, “About Us: Daniel Olukoya,” http://www.mountainoffire.org/about/dr-d.
107.
“Oyakhilome’s Divorce Mess (22): Inside His N300 Billion Empire,” September 9, 2004. Encomium.ng/oyakhilomes-divource-mess-22/.
108.
“Oyakhilome’s Inside His 300 Billion.”
109.
Daniel and Fola Biotechnology Foundation, “About Us: Daniel Olukoya,” http://www.mountainoffire.org/about/dr-d.
110.
David Oyedepo Foundation, “About Us,” accessed October 15, 2016, davidoyedepofoundation.org/portal/scholarship.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Samuel Adegboyega University, Ogwa, Nigeria
Samson O. Ijaola

Authors

Samson O. Ijaola
View author publications
You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
Adeshina Afolayan
Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Nigeria
Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso
University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
Toyin Falola

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Ijaola, S.O. (2018). Pentecostalism, the Prosperity Gospel, and Poverty in Africa. In: Afolayan, A., Yacob-Haliso, O., Falola, T. (eds) Pentecostalism and Politics in Africa. African Histories and Modernities. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74911-2_8

Download citation

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74911-2_8
Published: 30 June 2018
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-74910-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-74911-2
eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics