Oral Roberts and the Rise of the Prosperity Gospel
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- $25.99
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- $25.99
Publisher Description
In 1946, God gave Oral Roberts a new Buick.
And this just one of many miracles the young, broke preacher learned to expect, as Oral Roberts would go on to build an evangelistic ministry worth millions of dollars, a medical complex, and a university. How do we interpret the life of a man who seemed to combine rampant consumerist excess with a sincere devotion to the gospel?
Seeking to answer this question, Jonathan Root weaves together accounts of Oral Roberts's life in a balanced and engaging narrative. This fresh biography covers Roberts's early life during the Great Depression in Oklahoma, his family's financial struggles during his early career as a Pentecostal preacher, his healing ministry's explosive growth in popularity via the new media of radio and television, and his empire's eventual collapse. Root pays special attention to how Roberts introduced the "prosperity gospel" to American Protestants with his affirmation that God intends his followers to be both spiritually and physically fulfilled.
Root's engaging narration looks to primary sources on Roberts's life as well as the mythologized stories he told years later. The man who emerges is both deeply flawed and entirely earnest in his devotion to Christ. Oral Roberts and the Rise of the Prosperity Gospel will be an absorbing read for all those interested in American religious history and one of its most colorful figures.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Root, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Missouri, debuts with a fascinating biography of pioneering televangelist Oral Roberts. Roberts, one of the 20th century's most recognizable evangelical figures, left behind a legacy build on three pillars, each of which Root shrewdly analyzes. First, Roberts preached a "prosperity gospel" that linked financial success with divine favor. Early in his ministry, Roberts devised what he called a "Blessing Pact," which entailed using his weekly salary (and donations from his parishioners) to find a parsonage for his family; the more one gave to Roberts, the message went, the more one would reap God's financial reward. Secondly, Roberts was an early adopter of televangelism and "institution building," and devised TV programs that sought to create a "million front seats" to God's power. (He also founded Oral Roberts University.) Thirdly, Root asserts that Roberts become "corrupted by power," and nearly went bankrupt in the 1980s as his City of Faith medical center bled money, donations slowed to a trickle, and Roberts begged his TV viewership to give money or God would "call him home." Root brings Roberts to life as both a charismatic, flawed individual and a figure with deep influence in evangelical history, making for a well-balanced account. This is well worth picking up.
