The Worldview of the Word of Faith Movement: Eden Redeemed

Mikael Stenhammar

• Editore: T&T Clark
• Anno: 2021
• ISBN:
  9780567703477
• Edizione: 1
• Argomento: Theology & Religion
• Categoria: Theology

This volume approaches the Word of Faith as a worldview, and analyses the movement through N. T. Wright's model for worldview-analysis in order to provide necessary nuance and complexity to scholarly interpretations of the Word of Faith. The reader receives insights into the movement's narrative, semiotic, practical and propositional dimensions, which cumulatively offer a multifaceted understanding of how the Word of Faith interprets reality and engages with the world. The analysis shows that there is a narrative core to Word of Faith beliefs in the form of a unique theological story with focus set on the present restoration of Eden's authority and blessings. This study demonstrates how the Word of Faith operates as a distinct worldview that parses the world through the lens of faith's causative power to affect a direct correspondence between present reality and Eden's perfection. The findings advance a critical and therapeutic approach that acknowledges how the worldview both strengthens and subverts Pentecostalism.

Chapter 1

Models for Analyzing the Word of Faith

This chapter maps the state of current research on the Word of Faith and presents the four dominant models of analysis in the scholarly literature. After showing the need for and the method used to identify the dominant models, I present the four models identified: the doctrinal model, the biblical model, the historical model, and the socioeconomical model. Each model includes a discussion of its core aspects, how it is employed in the literature and its principal arguments. Closing the discussion of each model is an evaluation of the model’s explanatory power and what aspects are better addressed by the worldview-model used here. Concluding this chapter is a summary of the findings as they relate to the need for a holistic worldview-analysis of the Word of Faith. This chapter contributes to the overall project by situating my research in the larger scholarly field. It shows the need for a holistic worldview-analysis that can build on the findings of the other models while providing additional complexity and nuance and so better address the analytical, evaluative, and comparative goals raised in the introduction.

1.1 Taxonomy of Models of Analysis

This chapter’s task of identifying and analyzing the current models of analysis used by scholarship on the Word of Faith is important because there exists no comprehensive survey of the models used by current scholarship on the Word of Faith. By mapping the scholarly field, I can situate this work and show how it expands and complements present knowledge. For this research to address the complexities surrounding the global Word of Faith movement and the difficulties related to the phenomenon, it requires a level of conceptual precision that only comes after first assessing the present state of scholarship. Identifying and measuring the dominant models of analysis lay the essential groundwork for the dominant task of conducting the worldview-analysis.

The initial task of identifying the dominant models used by scholarship to analyze the Word of Faith requires a comprehensive survey of data. I use three criteria for data selection. First, because of the presence of the Word of Faith as movement and ethos and the variety of terms in use (see Introduction), I use an inclusive approach in the selection of data. Second, the data has to be published texts of scholarly character, that is, either an academic publication or of academically quality. Third, the data have to cover the Word of Faith’s global manifestations.

The data fitting these criteria yield four distinct models, which I label “the doctrinal model,” “the biblical model,” “the historical model,” and “the socioeconomical model.”¹ As in all taxonomy, it is possible to divide the data otherwise and name the models differently while staying true to the primary sources. Yet, this categorization is itself suggested by the data without forcing a foreign pattern. The fourfold division is necessitated by each model’s unique characteristics and impact on the scholarly conversations. To do justice to the complexity of the literature, the biblical and socioeconomic models are subdivided according to their specific focal points. The models are ordered in chronological order as they appear in the scholarly responses to the Word of Faith, but the description of each engages the models as a whole in their present form. The four models are separated and presented individually for clarity, while in actual usage several models are often combined.

1.2 The Doctrinal Model

The doctrinal model is the first distinct model in the literature used to analyze the Word of Faith. This model envisions the Word of Faith as substantially a doctrinal entity, with its inner core consisting of propositional beliefs. From this image follows the method of analyzing the Word of Faith through a close study of the movement’s doctrines.²

The demands facing the doctrinal model are substantial, from which doctrines to focus on to which primary sources to use and how to set delimitations to wider Pentecostalism.³ These obstacles arise because the Word of Faith has no official statements of faith, no systematic treaties, and no endorsed theologians to articulate their beliefs.⁴ The lack of consensus in the scholarly literature on which doctrines are essential to the movement arises because Word of Faith beliefs are expressed by a loose network of mutuall y independent preachers who often exchange ideas in the context of pulpit ministry.⁵ The beliefs are disseminated through a discourse of an ever-growing quantity, taking the form of recorded teachings (audio and video), published materials (articles, tracts, magazines, and books), and electronic media (websites and social media). Despite these problems, three doctrines stand out in the studies as the most significant to the movement:⁶ (1) an expectation of physical health,⁷ (2) material prosperity as a God-given right,⁸ (3) the creative power of positive confessions.⁹ Several other doctrines are also examined but are less prominent in the studies compared to these three.¹⁰

The doctrinal model is used to substantiate three different approaches: the radical, the moderate, and the sympathetic. This division is s omewhat a generalization but it is nevertheless helpful to identify the main approaches. The radical approach claims based on the doctrinal model that the Word of Faith is a heresy that bears the marks of a cult, preaching a different gospel about a different God and another Jesus.¹¹ In this view, the Word of Faith’s chief appeal is its attraction to human egocentrism and greed.¹² The charge is justified by faulting the Word of Faith for encompassing deism, dualism, elitism, experientialism, fideism, Gnosticism, liberalism, occultism and New Age, Pelagianism, selfism, syncretism, and triumphalism.¹³ The radicals classify the Word of Faith as a “disease”¹⁴ that spreads dangerous errors from which Christians need to be rescued.¹⁵

The moderate approach informed by the model is concerned with the “orthodoxy” of the Word of Faith doctrines to the point of also naming some heretical. The moderate approach is careful to avoid overstatements and caricatures and to express its concerns less polemically. It mixes the critique with self-criticism and seeks to emphasize points of agreement and areas where the Word of Faith contributes to established churches and traditions.¹⁶ The radical and the moderate approaches generally try to distinguish their critique of the Word of Faith from the rest of Pentecostalism and seek to ensure that criticisms—no matter how harsh—are not taken as anti-Pentecostal attacks.¹⁷

The sympathetic approach rejects the heretical charge and points to areas where the Word of Faith makes valid doctrinal contributions.¹⁸ The argument is that several doctrines are beneficial and should be untangled from extreme and unbalanced beliefs and unethical practices. After revision, some key doctrines can help the greater Christian quest of human flourishing.¹⁹ Tensions in Word of Faith doctrines are framed as the consequence of lack of balance by sincere yet overly zealous proponents whose primary need is advanced theological education.²⁰ The sympathetic approach calls for a dialogue between critics and propagators.

1.2.1 Evaluation and Remaining Questions

The doctrinal model was the first used by scholarship to analyze the Word of Faith.²¹ It has arguably wielded significant formative power on the perception of the Word of Faith among evangelicals and Pentecostal scholarship (mostly classical Pentecostals).²² But there is a notable ambiguity in the Pentecostal response to the Word of Faith’s doctrines.²³ Some Pentecostal denominations draw on the doctrinal model to openly oppose the movement, reaching conclusions similar to the moderate groups (if not the radicals). Despite strong official rejections of its key doctrines, in practice, the Word of Faith is usually accepted within global Pentecostalism.²⁴

Among the benefits of the model is that it helps to prioritize by sifting doctrinal data from the sizable bulk of Word of Faith discourse and to systematize the data into manageable units. It also provides a comparative tool to study similarities and dissimilarities between Word of Faith doctrines and other theological traditions.²⁵ It thus contributes valuable information to better understand Word of Faith beliefs. But the model’s depth of analysis is r...

Indice dei contenuti

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Series
• Dedication
• Title
• Contents
• List of Figures
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• List of Abbreviations
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 Models for Analyzing the Word of Faith
• Chapter 2 Worldview and the Word of Faith
• Chapter 3 Story in the Word of Faith Worldview
• Chapter 4 Symbol in the Word of Faith Worldview
• Chapter 5 Praxis in the Word of Faith Worldview
• Chapter 6 Ultimate Beliefs in the Word of Faith
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index
• Copyright