This article traces the elective affinity between the prosperity gospel and Christian nationalism. This elective affinity is the result of a shared theological framework through which Pentecostal Christians make legal claims on wealth and territory. Through an analysis of the theological homologies between the prosperity gospel and Christian nationalism, this article shows how each of these movements reaffirms and reinvigorates the influence of the other. Drawing on case studies from Zambia, Brazil, Ghana, and Papua New Guinea, it argues that the prosperity gospel is so closely bound up with Christian nationalist practice that we cannot understand one without attending to the other. This article advances the study of Christian nationalism by identifying some of the theological ideas that animate contemporary Christian nationalist projects and by taking a comparative approach that expands analysis beyond the United States.
Naomi Haynes (Thu,) studied this question.