Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel

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Michael Horton ,J. Gresham Machen Professor of Systematic Theology and Apologetics, Westminster Seminary California

She studies the cultural stories we tell ourselves about success, suffering, and whether (or not) we’re capable of change. She wrote the first and only history of the American prosperity gospel—the belief that God wants to give you health, wealth, and happiness—before being unexpectedly diagnosed with stage IV cancer at age 35. While she was in treatment and not expected to survive, she wrote two New York Times bestselling memoirs, Everything Happens for a Reason (and Other Lies I’ve Loved) and No Cure For Being Human (and Other Truths I Need to Hear). After years of being told she was incurable, she was declared cancer-free. But she was forever changed by what she discovered: life is so beautiful and life is so hard. For everyone. Popular soft prosperity preachers today such as Joel Osteen and Joyce Meyer continue the traditions of hard prosperity leaders and the promoters of Right Thinking of yesteryear, encouraging us to fix ourselves as we “Discover the Champion in You.” But this kind of “Total Victory” self-actualization requires total commitment (see below). You, too, can be a saint. But you need to want it with your whole heart, and, if you do not yet desire it, ask the Lord for it with insistence.” Nancy Guthrie reminds us that Saint John wrote about dragons, eagles, and beasts—not to fuel twenty-first-century speculation about their precise, physical referent, but to motivate the church towards godliness in the midst of a pagan culture. Revelation invites the church to gather around the throne of the holy God, Lamb, and Spirit and worship in every aspect of life. We need more books such as this on the capstone of the Bible’s storyline, and I’m eager to see how God will use this volume for his glory!” Finally, we need a road map. The life and witness of Blessed Carlo Acutis show us the way: “Always to be united with Jesus, this is my programme of life.” To live with Jesus, for Jesus and in Jesus is the simple and achievable roadmap that he sets out for us in five practices.”

On Saturday October 10, 2020, in the Upper Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi, Italy, the Venerable Carlo Acutis was beatified, the second last step before canonization. Days prior to Bl. Carlo’s beatification, I kept seeing news stories of him on my Facebook news feed. I knew a little bit about who Carlo was prior to his beatification, but never bothered to read up much about him. It is possible to allow our difficulties to make us better and to live in such a way that we will end up better off than we were before the trouble began. We should never waste our pain. Through the wisdom distilled in this book, we can learn how to gain something from our messes, use what we've learned to stay out of trouble in the future, and allow our newfound wisdom to help other people mind blessing in the mist of their messes.

How have millions of American Christians come to measure spiritual progress in terms of their financial status and physical well-being? How has the movement variously called Word of Faith, Health and Wealth, Name It and Claim It, or simply prosperity gospel come to dominate much of our contemporary religious landscape? Yet, what is this spirituality of Bl. Carlo? Right from the start of the book, Mgr. Figueiredo made it a point that Carlo was a very normal young man. For me and for many young people, Carlo is someone who you can picture walking down the street with a sweater and jeans. Yet, what was extraordinary in this ordinary young man was his holiness and how he constantly strived towards it in the setting that he was living in. He was able to be holy, while maintaining his hobbies and pastimes that made him original. Based on Carlo’s life, Mgr. Figueiredo presents the reader five steps to holiness: If you’re looking for a book that pits the varying interpretive approaches of Revelation against one another or analyzes the popular theories about the apocalyptic roles of politicians, pop stars, or even energy drinks, this isn’t it. While some may find this disappointing, what this book has to offer is far greater—real hope as we navigate a fallen world and anticipate Christ’s second coming.Transformative Personal Application:Every chapter asks and answers the question, What does it mean to hear and keep this part of Revelation and thereby experience its promised blessing? Tradition-bound Christians scraped by with barely enough while true believers drilled deeper to tap into the abundant lives that God promised . . . Everyone possessed the God-given potential to sow and reap their financial harvest with plenty to spare. Poverty marked a spiritual shortage. . . Outsiders called it baptized materialism,. Followers called it living in the overflow." (95). Understand the Book of Revelation:Helps readers make sense of Revelation’s unique apocalyptic symbolism, visual imagery, and Old Testament allusions I thank Monsignor Anthony Figueiredo for this truly beautiful, agile, and inspiring book. It is historically well documented. It is theologically profound. Here he offers us not only a biographical profile, but a “road map” of holiness in the footsteps of Carlo. We are not all called to the charismatic choices of Francis of Assisi, but we can all follow the simple way of Carlo. It takes nothing away of what makes life beautiful, but everything hinges on Jesus, in particular on the Eucharist, the “highway to heaven.””

Then the author of this book, Kate Bowler, who is my age, wrote a beautifully profound article on her own terminal cancer in the New York Times, and before I completed the piece I bought her book.

What this book has to offer is far greater than popular theories about the apocalypse—real hope as we navigate a fallen world and anticipate Christ’s second coming. Another great read from the Catholic Truth Society, and excellent volume in the CTS Biographies Series. This is a wonderful book. It will encourage and challenge any reader. I cannot wait to reread it with my own children. It was one of three new volumes from the Catholic Truth Society in February of 2021. They are all excellent. But as a father of four this was a very touching and moving read. Third biggest is tracing that part as an earlier part, and its connections to Christian fringes like the Divine Science movement of the late 19th century and the New Thought of the early 20th, that included places like Unity. The optimistic spirit which is cultivated and attracts so many people in prosperity gospel movement: It’s sad to see and read so many defeatist negative attitudes in certain churches today (or read them on facebook updates), and I have sometimes been guilty as well. When someone asks “How are you?” instead of a simple “I’m fine thank you” or a litany of complaints perhaps I can personalize something along the lines of what the book quotes “I’m blessed and highly favored!” (with the freedom to be authentic with regard to other feelings and without being restricted to “positive confessions”)

A Focus on What Is Clear and Uncontroversial:Highlights Revelation’s call for a costly allegiance to Christ and a refusal to compromise with the world rather than focusing on interpretive approaches and disputesWith a friendly and engaging tone, Blessed takes the fear, intimidation, and confusion away from studying Revelation, providing a solid and accessible resource that individuals and small groups can use to study this important yet often avoided book. I'll start with the (apparent) criticism and end with the praise: Bowler doesn't manage to create much of a narrative. Her chapter titles—Faith, Wealth, Health, and Victory—do develop themes within prosperity teaching, but throughout much of the book, the word "concatenation" kept coming to my mind. I felt like I was being introduced to preacher after preacher, ministry after ministry, with very little coherence to hang all the details on. Anyone acquainted with Guthrie’s love of biblical theology, however, wouldn’t be surprised to find that she supports her interpretations extensively with other passages of Scripture. Guthrie pulls from both the Old Testament and the New to deepen our understanding of the culmination of God’s story of redemption with all the gusto we’ve grown accustomed to from Guthrie. Those familiar with her oral teaching will be able to hear the enthusiastic intonation of her voice breaking through the paper and ink. In some ways, this review hasn’t even touched upon what Dr. Bowler describes as the four themes of the prosperity gospel: faith, wealth, health, and victory. But I have chosen to highlight what stood out most to me, perhaps because it was less familiar until I actually read Blessed.