On the Potential and Problems of Pentecostal Exchange

Abstract

This chapter once again focuses on the relationship between charisma and prosperity, this time through an analysis of “seed offerings”—the small gifts associated with the prosperity gospel that are believed to result in large blessings for the giver. All Copperbelt Pentecostals acknowledge the power of seed offerings, but they are likewise keenly aware of the problems they raise. Through a careful examination of the different registers through which believers interpret seed offerings, this chapter demonstrates how believers keep prosperity in its proper place even in this socially dangerous practice. By focusing on the priestly capacities of the leaders who receive a gift on God's behalf, Pentecostals work to protect seed offerings from the taint of corruption, allowing relationships between leaders and laypeople to develop through socially productive exchange.

Why Can't a Pastor Be President of a “Christian Nation”? Pentecostal Politics as Religious Mediation

“…First, the main quality that believers are looking for when they attach themselves to a pastor is his capacity to act as a religious mediator. Pastors attract a following on the basis of their perceived closeness to God—the “favor” that Bana Buleti mentioned—and this favor is understood to facilitate their capacity as intercessors as well as prophets and exorcists (Haynes , ).…”

“…In addition to the strong emphasis that Copperbelt believers place on mediation, the second thing to note about the example of Pastor Ephraim is that, while many believers acknowledged their leader's moral shortcomings, they did not regard these failings as an indication that he had lost his favored position in the eyes of God. I have written elsewhere on another Nsofu pastor, a Congolese man who became embroiled in a scandal after he was reported to the local authorities on accusations of hucksterism (Haynes , 89). The woman who described this situation to me said that she had first suspected that something was amiss when the mediatory work the pastor had performed on her behalf failed to produce results.…”

The gospel of self‐help: Born‐again musicians and the moral problem of dependency in Uganda

“…People who join Pentecostal and prosperity‐gospel communities often gain a new sense of moral and material agency in that they are encouraged to withdraw from traditional networks of spiritual and financial obligation in favor of redirecting resources toward church‐based hierarchical networks (Brison ; Hackett ; Haynes ; Maxwell ; Meyer ). These communities emphasize not only new processes of self‐cultivation—for instance the promotion of Calvinist dispositions of austerity and calculation, which are viewed as particularly amenable to capitalist exchange (Martin ; van Dijk )—but also practices of mutual support and communal belonging within the church.…”

“…In what Simon Coleman () has called the “sacrificial economy” of prosperity‐gospel congregations, tithes and other gifts to the church enhance believers’ experience of their own agency by integrating them into reciprocal relationships that are both spiritual and material. In these communities, believers’ gift giving and tithing is ambitious, providing a sense of action and material integration into a community hierarchy that provides the means to navigate unstable economic conditions (Coleman ; Haynes , ; Klaits and McLean ; Lindhardt ; Premawardhana ).…”

“…Such gifts promise divine returns in the form of a superabundant “harvest” and victory over adversity. For a recent description of the prosperity gospel in Africa, see Haynes , . For a comprehensive history of the US prosperity gospel, see Bowler .…”