The outsiders’ society: from prosperity gender pedagogies to post-feminist heterotopias

This article focuses on a possible permeability between feminist experience and evangelical Neo-Pentecostal experience. Through a focus group approach, we problematize the intersection between the pulsating gender pedagogy in prosperity theology and the lines of force of two feminist premises, which was resignified by a neoliberal rationality: gender equality and female empowerment. Therefore, we defend that the sayings of young evangelicals allow us to suggest the existence of a post-feminist heterotopia: spaces, certainly not full of neoliberal gender discourse ruptures, despite of that, still give rise to small cracks that from the very heart of normativity allow these evangelical young women to create other subjective possibilities for themselves.

The Book of Jeremiah as Case Study in Asian Contextual Theology

The past decades have seen many calls for Asian contextual theology thais both recognizably Asian and true to the Bible’s message. Given the lack of consensus on how to do such theology, however, the present study proposes that the Old Testament itself provides a worthy example to follow. Using the book of Jeremiah as a case study, it is suggested that the prophet’s engagemenwith the historical situation and theological issues of the sixth century BCE— fatalism, the identity of the divine vis-à-vis monism, prosperity theology, and cosmic suffering—offers a hermeneutical model for engaging modern Asian religious issues such as Islam, Hinduism, folk religion, and Buddhism.

‘Wife, Mommy, Pastor and Friend’: The Rise of Female Evangelical Microcelebrities

The popularity of digital media has spurred what has been called a “crisis of authority”. How do female evangelical microcelebrities figure in this crisis? Many of these women belong to churches led by male pastors, have amassed a large following online, and are sought-after speakers and teachers. This paper analyses how gender, religious authority, and the digital sphere collide through the rise of female evangelical microcelebrities. Bringing together ethnographic data, textual analysis, and social media analysis of six prominent women, I emphasize the power of representation to impact religious practices and religious meaning. This article examines how evangelical women are performing and negotiating their legitimacy as the Internet and fluid geographical boundaries challenge local models of religious authority. Moving away from a binary perspective of “having” or “not having” authority, this paper considers the various spheres of authority that evangelical microcelebrities occupy, including normative womanhood, prosperity theology, and politics. Finally, by examining the social media content put forth by female evangelical microcelebrities, I interrogate the political stakes of evangelical women’s authority.

Tinjauan Teologis Konsep Hidup Berkelimpahan dalam Perspektif Teologi Kemakmuran

The Bible is the word of God which teaches the truth by understanding it through comprehensive study. In following Jesus, believers must return to the correct understanding of materiality and wealth so as not to be trapped. In this study, it was found that living in abundance in the teachings of prosperity theology does not indicate that God's children must be prosperous and abundant in material things. This study uses qualitative methods with exposition and exegesis approaches. Thus, it can be concluded that the theological review of the concept of abundant life in the perspective of prosperity theology. First, it brings the congregation to understand the nature of Abundant Life in prosperity theology by looking at the background and teachings of Prosperity Theology. Furthermore, understanding in a comprehensive manner that a Bible review of several verses that are used as the basis for Abundant Life as a Prosperity Theology Teaching becomes an apologist who brings a new paradigm. And the last Bible review of abundance in a biblical perspective and educating believers' attitudes about wealth according to the Bible. Abstrak: Alkitab adalah firman Allah yang mengajarkan kebenaran dengan memahaminya melalui mempelajarinya secara konprihensif. Dalam mengikut Yesus, orang percaya harus kembali kepada pemahaman yang benar tentang materi dan kekayaan agar tidak terjebak. Dalam penelitian ini di dapatkan bahwa hidup berkelimpahan dalam ajaran teologi kemakmuran tidak menunjukkan bahwa anak Tuhan harus makmur dan berlimpah dalam materi. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode kualitatif dengan pendekatan eksposisi dan eksegesa. Demikian dapat disimpulkan bahwa tinjauan teologis konsep hidup berkelimpahan dalam perspektif teologi kemakmuran. Pertama membawa jemaat dapat mengerti hakikat Hidup berkelimpahan dalam teologi kemakmuran dengan melihat latar belakang berdiri dan Ajaran Teologi Kemakmuran. Selanjutnya memahami secara konfrernhensif bahwa tinjauan Alkitab tentang beberapa ayat yang dipergunakan sebagai dasar untuk Hidup Berkelimpahan Sebagai Ajaran Teologi Kemakmuran menjadi apologet yang membawa paradigma baru. Dan yang terakhir Tinjauan Alkitab tentang kelimpahan dalam perspektif Alkitab dan mengedukasi bagi Sikap orang percaya tentang kekayaan Menurut Alkitab.

Evaluating the Nigerian prosperity gospel as a mixed ideology

There are two popular suggestions as to how the prosperity gospel emerged in Nigeria. The first school of thought posits that the phenomenon of the prosperity gospel was exclusively an American ideology imported into Nigeria, while the second view holds that it was entirely an African ideology nurtured with African ingredients and popularised on African soil. There has been little literature that has actively and adequately explored the Nigerian prosperity gospel as a combination of the American prosperity gospel and the Nigerian Pentecostal revivalism. Therefore, to fill this gap in the literature, this article suggests that the Nigerian prosperity gospel is a joint theology with elements of the American prosperity gospel ideology, which has its origins in the American New Thought movement, and the Nigerian Pentecostal revivalism, which has its origins in the Nigerian indigenous Pentecostal movement. This attempt employs a historical approach. In this vein, the narrative explores related literature about the prosperity gospel in Nigeria and offers a radical shift from the popular views that solely attribute the emergence of prosperity gospel ideology to either the Nigerian Indigenous Pentecostal revivalism or the American prosperity theology.

Prosperity Theology and African Traditional Religion

Studies of Prosperity Theology in Africa have increased as research into Pentecostalism has burgeoned, but few theological analyses have explored the significance of African Traditional Religions and their role in shaping Prosperity Theology. While some studies have explored the resonance of Prosperity Theology and African Traditional Religions, they tend to do so briefly, or with a focus on sociology rather than theology. Through a case study of Nigerian Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, this research tests the thesis that many have intuited: Prosperity Theology resonates with traditional African religion, and these resonances contribute to an explanation of the expression and proliferation of Prosperity Theology in Africa. Evaluating the resonance of Oyakhilome’s teaching with African Traditional Religions (relying especially on John S. Mbiti’s work) demonstrates that Oyakhilome’s emphasis on accessing blessing, spiritual enemies, and activating power draws heavily on the resources of the typical African religious worldview.

Great Risk for the Kingdom

Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity (“PCC”) has successfully navigated the challenges modernity poses to religion, growing rapidly in the twentieth century. Toward the end of the twentieth century, however, neoliberalism began its ascent to its current hegemonic status. Neoliberalism reconfigures social institutions as marketized practices with a measurable ‘payoff'. PCC adapted to this challenge in the form of a “growth churches,” adopting many of the characteristics of neoliberalism. In adopting a homogenous model and method of ‘best practice' in order to facilitate growth; offering a ‘prosperity' theology that fits well with the development of human capital; and endorsing the universalization of risk through modelling “pastorpreneur” leadership, it is argued in this chapter that growth churches are a paradigmatic example of a late modern religious phenomenon accommodating neoliberalism in a largely uncritical manner. The chapter concludes with some observations that critique this association between neoliberalism and growth churches.