The Prosperity Gospel

The Prosperity Gospel, also known as health and wealth or word of faith, is a belief among some Protestant Christians that God's will includes financial blessings and physical well-being. It is based on the interpretation that the atonement includes the alleviation of sickness and poverty. Followers believe in achieving these blessings through donations of money, visualization, and positive confession. There are two camps within the Prosperity Gospel - hard prosperity, which includes false teachings and blatant cons, and soft prosperity, which focuses more on therapeutic and mainstream principles for emotional health, relational flourishing, and material success. Dr. Kate Bower from Duke University distinguishes the four markers of the Prosperity Gospel as faith, health, wealth, and victory.