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Note: This essay first appeared in the
October 2008 Baptist Studies Bulletin.
What is a Christian to do when God runs for political office
and Jesus goes chasing after mammon? While neither represents new
developments within Christendom, the current economic crisis in
America, arguably the worst since the Great Depression, adds a new
wrinkle to appropriating deities for personal gain.
While every four years the American God tries (and fails) to
take up residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the American Jesus is
busy with his own mission. Embarrassed by his earlier earthly
identification with the poor and oppressed, today's Jesus hawks
prosperity from pulpits and boardrooms, praising and blessing the
wealthy. Capitalized and securitized, Christ serves Wall Street and
avoids blighted neighborhoods and inner cities. He provides the
faithful "massive wealth," according to former Southern Baptist
evangelist
Jay Snell, even as God's chosen politicians pressure the
White House to deny living wages and health care for common folk.
Snell is not alone. Some prosperity preachers are respected
in the evangelical world, while the activities of others led to a
U.S. Senate investigation even as the economy slid downhill. In
addition, some analysts portray prosperity preachers as accomplices to
the current financial crisis. A religion scholar at the University of
Rochester, Anthea Butler
paraphrases the wealth gospel: "Even if you have a poor
credit rating, God can still bless you—if you put some faith out there
[that is, make a big donation to the church], you'll get that house or
that car or that apartment."
How embedded is prosperity theology in the American church?
Today's most popular Christian financial advisor, Dave Ramsey teaches
how to "build
wealth." In local churches large and small, conservative
and moderate, testimonials to tithing almost inevitably declare that
the practice results in personal financial gain.
When it comes to the subject of money, one wonders if the
Jesus of the Gospels is welcome in the modern American church.
Contrary to a capitalistic paradigm which rewards greed, the Jesus of
the Gospels advocated shared wealth and social justice, while not once
praising or encouraging the accumulation of personal wealth. If this
Jesus were alive today, would he tell the American church to sell its
possessions, give the money to the world's poor, and follow him? If
this Jesus were alive today, would he call prosperity preachers to
climb down from their pulpits and live among the poor? And if this
Jesus were alive today, would he discourage the poor from pursuing the
"American dream" of great wealth?
While no one relishes the current economic meltdown, perhaps
it will give the American God second thoughts about using the White
House to establish an earthly kingdom, and cause the American Jesus to
reconsider his day job as a cheerleader for personal wealth. Distanced
from power and wealth, the Gospel might be freed to come out of the
closet. Unleashed and given free reign, the Jesus of the Gospels might
lead some of us, individually and as local church fellowships, to
places we would never otherwise go, and into the lives of people we
have long ignored.
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