<p>This dissertation introduces readers to the major figures and features of the twentieth-century American prosperity gospel. It argues that these diverse expressions of Christian faith-fuelled abundance can be understood as a movement, for they stem from a cohesive set of shared understandings. First, the movement centered on Faith. It conceived of faith as an "activator," a power given to believers that bound and loosed spiritual forces and turned the spoken word into reality. Second and third respectively, the movement depicted faith as palpably demonstrated in wealth and health. It could be measured in both in the wallet--one's personal wealth--and in the body--one's personal health--making material reality the measure of the success of immaterial faith. Last, the movement expected faith to be marked by victory. Believers trusted that culture held no political, social, or economic impediment to faith, and no circumstance could stop believers from living in total victory here on earth. Though its origins lay in the late nineteenth century, the prosperity gospel took root in the Pentecostal revivals of the post-World War II years. It reached maturity by the late 1970s as a robust pan-denominational movement, garnering a national platform and a robust network of churches, ministries, publications, and media outlets. Using the tools of ethnography and cultural history, this dissertation argues that faith, wealth, health, and victory served as the hallmarks of this American phenomenon.</p> / Dissertation

This report analyzes the Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus (Universal Church of the Kingdom of God)—a Brazilian neo-Pentecostal church—by its capacity to enchant everyday life in modern, disenchanted worlds. It provides a history of the church, a cultural biography of its founder, and a description of the church’s demonology and ritual life. It argues that through ritual performance, members come to embody the church’s discourse of biblical sacrifice. This process enchants their lives and sanctifies their participation in modern, disenchanted institutions such as late capitalism and medical science. It further argues that previous scholarship has interpreted neo-Pentecostal churches from an implicitly ethical perspective that is rooted in Western modernity. This perspective, in turn, has led to unwarranted dismissiveness toward church members’ self-reports of the empowerment they experience through their religious life. / text

Submitted by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2015-01-27T13:31:07Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) Tese - Bertone de Oliveira Sousa - 2014.pdf: 1247322 bytes, checksum: 3c6f2cc3fa11084b138f98e8232b120d (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2015-01-28T11:12:18Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) Tese - Bertone de Oliveira Sousa - 2014.pdf: 1247322 bytes, checksum: 3c6f2cc3fa11084b138f98e8232b120d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-01-28T11:12:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) Tese - Bertone de Oliveira Sousa - 2014.pdf: 1247322 bytes, checksum: 3c6f2cc3fa11084b138f98e8232b120d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-04-11 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This thesis analyzes the characteristics of the growth of neo-Pentecostals churches and their impact on the Brazilian Protestantism configuration. These churches started in the 1970s and expanded the prosperity gospel in a context characterized by increase demands for social mobility, individualization and search for physical well -being and material. In the era of postmodernity, the neo-Pentecostals churches compete for people's adhesion, leaving in the second plan speeches about salvation in the other world and apocalyptic preaching, centrals matter in Pentecostals segments of which several of its leaders have emerged. Thus, we seek to investigate the historical origin of prosperity gospel, its relationship with the expansion of the economic model and American consumption, their discursive characteristics and adaption oneself to the fluidity of contemporary societies, where the notion of collective identities and the dissolution of institutional loyalty in several religious institutions, partly due to the advancement of secularization has led agencies of salvation benefits to redefine strategies to aggregate more believers. We also analyze its spread in two medium-sized cities, Imperatriz, in the south of Maranhão and Araguaína in northern Tocantins, with the objective of to research how some locally churches compete at a regional sphere among themselves and with other nationally known, comparing them with the Worldwide Church of God's Power. We also investigate the social representations passed on to the believers by the leadership of these institutions on questions such as sexuality and politics. As a theoretical perspective, we seek to value the interdisciplinary dialogue especially with the sociology of religion and approaches Zygmunt Bauman on the effects of postmodernity on the social organizations and individual perspectives in recent decades. / Esta tese analisa as características do crescimento das igrejas neopentecostais e seu impacto na configuração do protestantismo brasileiro. Tais igrejas surgiram no final da década de 1970 e disseminaram a Teologia da Prosperidade em um contexto marcado por crescentes demandas por ascensão social, individualização e busca por bem-estar físico e material. Na era da pós-modernidade, as igrejas neopentecostais passaram a disputar adesões, secundarizando discursos acerca da salvação em outro mundo e a pregação apocalíptica, temas centrais na teologia dos segmentos pentecostais dos quais vários de seus líderes emergiram. Desse modo, buscamos investigar as raízes históricas da Teologia da Prosperidade, sua relação com a expansão do modelo econômico e de consumo norte-americano, suas características discursivas e adequação à fluidez das sociedades contemporâneas, onde a noção de identidades coletivas e dissolução da fidelidade institucional em diversas instituições religiosas, em parte decorrente do avanço da secularização, tem levado as agências de bens de salvação a redefinirem estratégias a fim de agregarem mais fiéis. Também analisamos sua disseminação em duas cidades de médio porte, Imperatriz, no sul do Maranhão e Araguaína, no norte do Tocantins, a fim de discutirmos como algumas igrejas autóctones rivalizam, em âmbito local, entre si e com outras nacionalmente conhecidas, comparando-as com a Igreja Mundial do Poder de Deus. Investigamos também as representações sociais repassadas aos fiéis pelas lideranças dessas instituições acerca de temas como sexualidade e política. Como perspectiva teórica, buscamos valorizar o diálogo interdisciplinar, especialmente com a sociologia da religião e as abordagens de Zygmunt Bauman acerca dos efeitos da pós-modernidade sobre as organizações sociais e as perspectivas individuais nas últimas décadas.

The objective of this case study is to explore the social functions performed by a Charismatic church in central Pretoria for its congregants and for its surrounding community. The growth of the Charismatic movement and the ‘wealth ministry’ in recent years and the subsequent notoriety of the ‘prosperity gospel,’ (especially popular within the Charismatic church movement) which encourages people to give tithes and offerings as a pre-requisite for material blessings are the fundamental motivators of the study. The study seeks to understand how the church, through its creed and sermons affects and shapes the social behaviour of its members, and its impact on socially relevant issues facing the surrounding community. The respondents are members of the church’s congregation of varying ages, nationalities and class. They were identified by making use of the snowball selection method. The key finding is that although the ‘wealth ministry’ and ‘prosperity gospel’ are generally associated with Charismatic churches, material gain is not the main emphasis of every Charismatic church’s ministry, and in fact, this Charismatic church offers its members and the community more non-material and intangible spiritual benefits. / Dissertation (MSocSci)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Sociology / unrestricted

Pentecostalism has grown from its founding days in 1900 in Topeka, USA and has extended its reach to most parts the world including Africa where it took off in the 1970s and continues to grow with many mega churches being established. In addition to their main role of taking care of the spiritual development of their followers, many Pentecostal churches have begun to get involved in provision of social and economic goods and services. This has however attracted attention to the churches with some of them being labelled as businesses, their founders being considered as entrepreneurs hiding under the guise of churches and seen as exploiting their followers. The purpose of the thesis is to explore, through research questions, if entrepreneurial activities are carried out in the Pentecostal churches in Uganda and if so, whether such activities can be considered productive, unproductive or destructive entrepreneurship and what their implications are. This qualitative study employed qualitative methods of data collection and deductive approach with primary data collected through semi-structured interviews with 6 members of Pentecostal churches in Kampala and 1 non-member that regularly goes to Pentecostal churches to get a feel of their activities. The findings show that there the Pentecostal churches carryout a number of entrepreneurial activities that address spiritual, social and economic aspects of the church members and the community. The study further shows that some of these entrepreneurial activities have a positive impact on the church members and the community and by extension the state whereas some activities do not improve the church members and the community and others have a negative impact on the church members and the community. It is shown through this thesis that determining the implication of the entrepreneurial activities is complicated when such activities are lumped together and not considered individually since some of the activities in the Pentecostal may be productive while some may be unproductive or destructive. The contribution of this thesis is by proposing a matrix as an alternative tool for analysis of the various entrepreneurial activities in the Pentecostal churches by considering their effect on different stakeholders to determine if the activity achieved the reason for its establishment.

O presente trabalho tem por objetivo comparar a teologia do evangelho de Marcos com a neopentecostal. Enquanto a teologia marcana é interpretada como antitriunfalista, conduzindo as comunidades a perceberem o Cristo da cruz, o movimento neopentecostal faz o caminho oposto. Sua ênfase é o caminho triunfalista/sem cruz. Num primeiro momento, será abordado o ambiente das primeiras comunidades cristãs, que surgiram após a paixão, morte e ressurreição de Jesus. Posteriormente, serão apresentadas algumas considerações sobre a intenção do evangelista Marcos ao escrever seu evangelho. Por fim, será tratado ainda o tipo de enfoque bíblico-doutrinário do movimento neopentecostal. Já os principais resultados da pesquisa foram: a) incompatibilidade entre a ideologia neopentecostal com a abordagem teológica do evangelho de Marcos; e b) a perspectiva/ideologia triunfalista não é inerente apenas ao movimento neopentecostal. Já na época em que Marcos escreveu seu evangelho, a comunidade para quem ele destina sua obra também adotou essa postura triunfante sobre a figura de Jesus. / This dissertation compares the theology of the Gospel of Mark with that of the neopentecostal movement. While Markan theology is interpreted as antitriumphalist, leading faith communities to recognize the Christ of the cross, the neopentecostal movement takes the opposite path. Its emphasis is on triumph, the way without the cross. I begin by considering the environment of the first Christian communities that arose after Jesus passion, death, and resurrection. I then present several reflections on the intention of the evangelist Mark when he wrote his Gospel. Finally, I deal with the particular biblico-doctrinal focus of the neopentecostal movement. The main findings of this research were: a) there is a fundamental incompatibility between the neopentecostal ideology and the theological approach of the Gospel of Mark; and b) the triumphalist perspective/ideology is not inherent only to the neopentecostal movement. Even at the time when Mark was writing his Gospel, the faith community for which he intended his work had also adopted a triumphalist view of the figure of Jesus.

Globalization has facilitated the growth of “market-friendly” religions throughout the world, but especially in developing societies in the global South. A popular belief among these movements is prosperity belief. Prosperity belief has several characteristics which make it compatible with liberal individualism, the dominant value in a globalized society. At the same time, its compatibility with this value may be limited, extending only to economic liberalism, but not to liberal attitudes on social issues. Data from the Pew Forum on Religious and Public Life’s 2006 survey Spirit and Power: Survey of Pentecostals in Guatemala is used to conduct a quantitative analysis regarding the economic and social attitudes of prosperity belief adherents in Guatemala in order to examine the potential, as well as the limits, of this belief’s compatibility with liberal individualism. Results suggest that support for liberal individualism is bifurcated. On one hand there is some support for the positive influence of prosperity belief on economic liberalism in regards to matters of free trade, but on the other hand, prosperity belief adherents continue to maintain conservative attitudes in regards to social issues. As prosperity belief and liberal individualism continue to grow along global capitalism, these findings have implications for the future of market-friendly religions and for the societies of the global South.

Abstracts in English and Tsonga / This study explored the lack of integrating a scientific imagination and rationality in the hermeneutic and theological practices of neo-Pentecostal churches in the town of Livingstone, Zambia. Although the vantage point of the study was primarily practical theology, the researcher adopted both an interdisciplinary and a multidisciplinary approach. This assisted the researcher in understanding the different theoretical nuances that inform neo-Pentecostal theological practices as propagated by its proponents. An in-depth scientific analysis premised on the critical theory approach was conducted to find out whether or not neo-Pentecostal communicative practices contribute positively to the economic conditions of local church members in Livingstone. The theological framework for this study was based on the “pastoral cycle”, which ought to be at the very heart of any contemporary practical theology (Ballard & Pritchard 2006). The research methodology consisted of data collection, interpretation and analysis (comparing and contrasting primary sources in the light of the data collected). Research participants' personal narratives of their experience of neo-Pentecostal practices were heard in a semi-structured format. These aided in establishing ecclesiastical views on the causes of the lack of integrating a scientific imagination and rationality in neo-Pentecostal spiritual experience; and consequently informed the study on whether the current theological orientations of neo-Pentecostal congregations in Livingstone have a positive or negative impact on the economic conditions of members. Two forms of data collection were employed, namely qualitative interviews and observation instruments. / Ndzavisiso lowu wu langutisa ku pfumaleka ka vuanakanyi hi vuntshwa bya xisayense na ku va na ngqhondo eka mamfambiselo ya vulavisisi na vuxopaxopi ku hlamusela matsalelo na mafambiselo ya swa vugandzeri eka tikereke ta Pentakosta leyintshwa edorobeni ra Livingston, eZambia. Hambileswi masungulo ya ndzavisiso a ku ri mafambiselo ya vugandzeri, mulavisisi u tirhise fambiselo ra interdisciplinary na multidisciplinary. Leswi swi pfunete mulavisisi ku twisisa ku hambana eka swa thiyori leyi yi nga xiseketelo xa Pentakosta leyintshwa ya swa vugandzeri na mafambiselo ya kona tanhilaha swi endliwaka hi lava nga vachumayeri va yona pentakosta leyintshwa. Vuxopaxopi bya xisayense byi seketeriwe hi thiyori yo xopaxopa leyi nga endliwa ku kuma leswo xana mafambiselo ya Pentakosta leyintshwa ya pfuneta eka swiyimo swa ikhonomi eka swirho swa kereke swa yona eLivingston. Rimba ra swa vugandzeri eka ndzavisiso lowu wu seketeriwe hi ndzhenzheleko wa vurisi bya kereke ku nga "pastoral cycle", lowu wu faneleke ku va mbilu ya mafambiselo wahi na wahi ya vugandzeri (Ballard & Pritchard 2006). Methodoloji ya ndzavisiso a yi katsa ku hlengeletea vutivi, ku byi toloka no byi xopaxopa (ku kotlanisa na ku pimanisa swihlovo swa vutivi hi ku landza data leyi yi nga hlengeletiwa). Lava a va ri na xiavo eka ndzavisiso, va endle marungula ya vona na ntokoto wa vona hi mafambiselo ya Pentekosta leyintshwa ya yingiseriwile hi fomati yo ka yi nga kunguhatiwangi swinene ku nga semi-structured format. Leswi swi pfunete ekusunguleni mianakanyo ya kereke ya vukreste hi swivangelo swa ku pfumaleka ka ku hlanganisa na ku anakanya hi vuntshwa mavonelo na ntokoto eka swa moya hi swa Pentekosta leyintshwa; hi ku landza swona leswi, swi pfunete ndzavisiso hi leswo xana mavonelo yo hambana hi swa vugandzeri bya Pentakosta leyintshwa eka nhlengeletano eLivingston leswo xana yi na vuyelo lebyinene kumbe lebyi nga ri ku lebyinene eka swiyimo swa ikhonomi ya swirho. Ku tirhisiwe minxaka mimbirhi ya nhlengeleto ya vutivi, ku nga qualitative interviews na xitirho xa ku languta kunene leswi endlekaka (observation instruments). / Practical Theology / D. Th. (Practical Theology)

In a manner similar to other countries on the African continent, Botswana has witnessed the explosive growth of new Pentecostal churches. These churches are most often distinguished by their recent origins, focus on the prosperity gospel and spiritual deliverance ministries. In this study, one specific church, Bible Life Ministries, in the capital city of Gaborone, was researched in an effort to understand its great appeal. I have proposed that their rapid growth is a result of their "promise of power" - spiritual power that provides individuals with temporal results such as health, wealth and control over one's environment. Faced with the rapid changes brought about by external forces such as urbanization and globalization, these churches are deliberately seeking to bridge western and Setswana culture in an effort to contextualize the gospel for contemporary Batswana. Of major missiological concern is whether or not the gospel message has been distorted in this process. / Church Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M.Th. (Missiology)

The Faith Movement is a religious mosaic since it is a multi-layered phenomenon which is coloured by several themes. These themes represent several areas of emphasis like: Blessing and Blessings, Power to declare, Prophetic anointing, connecting with the anointing, dominion, success and increase, sowing the seeds, as well as other ideas which are still evolving. The Word of Faith teachers have a very unique way of reading the Bible. They usually approach the text without consideration of its historical and cultural context. When they approach the biblical text they usually assign to it an independent existence cut off from its natural context. This in turn results in the reinterpretation of all the major doctrines of the Christian faith. Both God and human beings belong to the same class of “divine beings.” God and human beings it is believed operate under the rule of faith. It is argued that whatever God created, God did so by speaking words of faith (see Genesis 1:1-3). It is therefore argued that human beings similarly can create their own reality and destiny by speaking words of faith.Christology and Pneumatology of the Faith Movement assume a rather narrow outlook. It is believed that Jesus Christ died so that in addition to the forgiveness of sins He provided for all spiritual and material needs of the people. Therefore, no Christian should be poor or sick. The Holy Spirit on the other hand, is the anointing that enables believers to make it in life. It must be pointed out that even though the Word of Faith ideas were exported to Africa mainly from the United States of America it has found a home in Africa. The concepts of blessings and curses have a corollary in African Religious Traditional thought. The role that Word of Faith preachers play is similar to the roles played by several religious experts in African Religious Thought. Ultimately, the Faith Movement is not based on sound theological and philosophical ground. It is based on unique reading of the Bible which is more esoteric than theological. More Gnostic than Christian. / Philosophy & Systematic Theology / D. Th. (Systematic Theology)