Pentecostalism and Neo-Liberal Capitalism: Faith, Prosperity and Vision in African Pentecostal- Charismatic Churches

Focusing on the phenomenal popularity of Pentecostal-CharismaticChurches (PCCs) in Africa, this article addresses the apparent consonancebetween the rise of this type of Christianity and the spread of neo-liberalcapitalism. It is argued that Max Weber’s Protestant Ethic can serve as asource of inspiration for grasping this phenomenon, but should not beemployed as a blue print because this would blind us to certain aspects ofPCCs that markedly digress from Weber’s model. A plea is made forinvestigating central features of PCCs—the emphasis on Born Again faith inmiracles, the promise of Prosperity, and the entanglement of media with themessage—so as to gain insight in their enmeshment with capitalism, as well as into the internal limitations and contradictions implied by this.