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After going through life-altering and—threatening situations earlier in life,
Marius Nel begun to question the commonly held belief that is plaguing African
Charismatic/Pentecostal Churches: Is the Cross of Christ to be linked to the
health and prosperity of everyone who believes and confesses it? (ix).
The book is structured in five Chapters that begins with “The Context: Africa,
and the Rise and Popularity of the Prosperity Message” (1–23). The first section
of the book inquires about the reasons why the African Church is inundated
with prosperity teaching when it has no “sing[ular] definite theology of its own”
(xiv). The very fact that the continent is poverty-stricken plays a significant
role for the appeal of the prosperity Gospel. The common force that seems to
push it seems to be the socio-historical fact that Africans want to prove to the
world that they too can setup a middle-class society in Africa after having been
exploited by the colonizers of old. This is an accurate of post-colonial African
mentality. The spiritual context in which the prosperity Word is preached is in
a service that is led by a ‘prophet’ who has convinced the congregation that
he/she stands in a unique mediatory position between God and adherents
(4).
In Chapter two, he discusses “The Angle: Pentecostal Hermeneutics” (23–
42). Unexpectedly, the book’s main argument is “not concerned with the chal-
lenges the prosperity message” (xiii), but rather to explore the ways in which
Bible reading habits directly impact a person’s expectation from God in the
name of spirituality. Nel states that, “They searched the Bible for all Scripture
references to a particular subject and then synthesized those references into a
theological statement in a harmonizing and deductive way” (24).
Chapter three continues with “The Project: Prosperity Gospel” (43–113)
where the rationale is stated as marking the borders of the teaching’s “ori-
gins, historical developments and present-day appearance, to apply the mes-
sage and the movement to the African context, asking in what way(s) does
the message differ from the American version of the prosperity gospel …”
(44).
The next Chapter presents what the challenge is: “Prosperity Gospel in
Africa” (114–200). In a nutshell, the biggest challenge is an unfaithful interpreta-
tion of Scripture. Nel writes, “The prosperity message teaches that poverty was
not what God had planned for God’s people and quotes the Deuteronomistic
theology to prove their point” (189). Prosperity teaching also overlaps with
Dominion Theology in that it expects believers to be rulers over the earth and
be superior in wealth (189). Another challenge is the fact that such teachers uti-
132 book reviews
Pneuma 44 (2022) 119–154
lize media technology to the extent that many households in Africa are reached
everyday with their message (115).
The Final Chapter offers a “Solution: An Evaluation of African Charismatic
Prosperity Theology from a New African Pentecostal Hermeneutical Perspec-
tive” (201–271).
Here it is wise to quote at length what Nel offers as a concluding solution to
the erred teaching on prosperity:
“Tithing may be a workable and practical principle of giving in order to help
the local congregation to survive, contribute to the care of the poor and needy,
and finance the church’s outreach with the gospel to the unreached. How-
ever, it cannot be presented as a part of the new covenant brought about by
Christ’s death. It cannot be motivated from the New Testament when Chris-
tians are taught to tithe. Preaching tithing as a way to earn eternal life or as
a means to get rich is to abuse the Bible for what it did not intend to say”
(266).
Finally, Nel offers conclusion and recommendations (271–279) on how to
move forward. Sound teaching on the atonement of Christ, faith in God and not
faith in faith, charismatic practices and hermeneutical solutions are offered.
He argues from the outset that the Pentecostal hermeneutic needs to speak
into the health and wealth teaching movement that is widespread in Africa
today (x). And this is also appreciated when it is coming from an African Pen-
tecostal scholar such as Marius Nel who has a firsthand experience of this
movement.
Another statement that did surprise this reviewer is to read that what the
book considers being a “positive aspect” of the movement: “believers are ex-
pected to give and live generously” (xvi). The study has observed that it is the
92 % of the poor (Latinos and Africans together, c.f., footnote xiii) that have
fallen prey to Tele-evangelists asking them to give generously to their ministry
while there may be lack in their own lives. The writer believes this is positive
because believers in these nations learn to be generous (218). He also points out
the tricky and manipulative strategies such ‘ministers’ employ (20, 130, 214). He
then dedicates a whole section to present how Christians ought to be “taught
to donate generously to the ministry” (265).
One of the most appreciated statements from the Book reads as follows: “In
Africa, “prosperity” means for a lot of people “survival;” they need the basic
necessities to sustain life. Prosperity cannot be equated with naked greed in
Africa without further qualification. The important distinction between the
Western and African definitions of prosperity should be kept in mind” (49–
50). Neo-Pentecostalism and its way of reading and interpreting the Scriptures
have to be distinguished from Classical Pentecostal hermeneutics.
book reviews 133
Pneuma 44 (2022) 119–154
In conclusion, since Pentecostal hermeneutic in Africa has shifted histori-
cally (22), the Church’s focus is to equip believers and enhance discernment
with proper hermeneutics
