The Suffocation of Black Women in the Age of Prosperity Theology

We live in the age of prosperity preachers: Joel Osteen, Paula White, T.D. Jakes. These well known pastors, along with others, have helped usher an age in the Church where teachings of wealth-building reign supreme. Before I go into why this branch of theology robs congregants of benefits from the institution, it’s best that I provide definitions of what exactly the “prosperity gospel” is.

In an article for BeliefNet, Scot McKnight is frank with his explanation of prosperity teachings. He writes, “For the prosperity gospel, God could be seen as The Vending Machine God: put in faith and out pops blessings—money, homes, cars, beautiful spouses, clever kids, good neighbours, big churches, and plush vacations.” It is the belief that God blesses those who are faithful with material wealth. American Christianity has experienced a great increase in the preaching and belief of this form of theology, leading many pastors of mega churches to incorporate it into their Sunday sermons. The more you believe, the more you tithe, the more God will bless you. No longer is the “so the last will be the first…” lesson being taught, but a new, louder message of “keep your eyes on wealth, this is what God wants for you.”

One of these pastors McKnight generally refers to is famous televangelist, Pastor Joel Osteen. In a conversation with Marc Lamont Hill for Huffington Post Live, Osteen strongly defends his embracing of prosperity gospel by stating, “I think there’s a group that says, ‘Well, to be a Christian, to be a real believer you’ve got to be poor, you’ve got to be humble.’ I don’t see that. I think we should be leaders in the community, we should be able to bless others.” This all sounds good… I mean, after all, how many of us don’t ask God for a better job or more money to live the lives we believe we deserve? But if we look a little closer, we see how such rose-colored glass teachings leave most congregants, and Black women in particular, with dreams that may never be obtained.