Why does Donald Trump look and sound like a Prosperity Gospel preacher? What are the actual ties of the president to this tradition of Christian healers and televangelists?
In this episode of Spirit & Power, Dr. Leah Payne speaks with Dr. Gabriel Raeburn - Senior Research Fellow, Harvard Slavery Remembrance Program, Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery Initiative - about the health and wealth preachers who love Donald J. Trump, and their affinities with tech billionaires like Elon Musk & Peter Thiel. Fully embracing the glitz and glam of Trump's 21st Century second term, prosperity preachers are setting their own political agendas and living the high life with their favorite president, a long way from their impoverished, Depression-Era roots.
Links and other info:
Resources & Links:
Visible Saints: the History of a Puritan Idea, Edmund Morgan
Oral Roberts and the Rise of the Prosperity Gospel, Jonathan Root
Pew Research Center’s 2006 study: Spirit and Power – A 10-Country Survey of Pentecostals
“The Future of “Born-Again Evangelicalism” Is Charismatic and Pentecostal,” PRRI by Fanhao Nie, Ph.D., Flavio Rogerio Hickel Jr., Leah Payne, Tarah Williams, Ph.D.
God Gave Rock & Roll to You: a History of Contemporary Christian Music, Leah Payne
Join Leah & many other scholars, activists, and artists considering music the rise of Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity at the 2025 Summer Institute for Global Charismatic & Pentecostal Studies at Candler School of Theology at Emory University, May 21-23 in Decatur, GA. Registration is free!
Spirit and Power is produced by the Institute for Religion, Media, and Civic Engagement with generous funding from the Henry Luce Foundation.
Created by Dr. Leah Payne
Producer: Andrew Gill
Executive Producer: Dr. Bradley Onishi
Audio Engineer and Music: R. Scott Okamoto
Production Assistance: Kari Onishi
