Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel

But what gives the prosperity movement breadth and depth for many is its thorough accounting for the pain of life, and for the longing we have for restoration. Those Americans trapped in failing bodies or broken relationships or the painful possibility that their lives might never be made whole can turn to this message of hope. If it is a game—with

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Conwell summarized the links between wealth and godliness: “To make money honestly is to preach the gospel.”34 Wealth was no longer a means of liberating oneself from labor (or from the necessity for instrumental or market-based reasoning). Instead of allowing one the leisure to cultivate one’s self and serve one’s community, wealth became, in and

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