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There were several reasons why the Prosperity Gospel message gained popularity and expanded in influence. A brief treatment of “mind-cure” was a requirement of the task of analysing the specific notions of the P G message. The “mental healers” of the post-war U S used the concept “metaphysics” as the causative view of the mind and its control over “matter”; “mind over the body” and the “mind over wealth”. The relationship between mind and matter was understood to enable people to obtain bodily healing (Smith 1995:34). It is difficult to find an adequate term for this
movement as it already existed in the 1850’s to the 1900’s; however, the description most often used is “mind-cure” (Gottschalk 1973:99). Within the mind-cure movement resided various streams of thought: From absolute monism to objective idealism (cf.
Anderson 1991). The basic sources that contributed to the mind-cure worldview and prosperity were the following:
- Philosophical idealism - Swedenborgianism - Mesmerism
- Unitarianism
- Transcendentalism (Smith 1995:vi).
Here, a brief evaluation of each influence of the P G movement is in order:
- Philosophical idealism provided the core element of the “mind-cure”
worldview: The relationship between mind and matter is critical. Idealism is the conviction that matter does not exist in its own right, but is brought forth by the mind. Already Plato (427–347 BC) believed that there existed a world of ideas and forms, not merely ideas in the mind, but ideas which existed objectively and absolutely in addition to the world of sensible objects (Smith 1995:36). Plato focused his attention not on the variable objects of sense experience, but on the fixed and abiding substance and essence of things as the only possible objects of true knowledge. This was already an attempt to
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harmonise the physical and the ideal (Miller 1992:75). Although there were varieties of objective and subjective idealism, the fundamental belief was that the mind expresses and defines matter. This meant that the mind is primary and matter secondary.
Based on the above premise, “mind-cure”, as well as a variety of beliefs was followed and the leaders were convinced that the mind controlled matter or the objective world; “mind healers” then claimed that matter or the objective world is “causative”, and consequently, the mind can control matter (Smith 1995:37–
38). Hence, philosophical idealism provides a valid basis for specific aspects of a positive confession and physical healings, also according to the aims of the Prosperity Gospel.
- Swedenborgianism was known as The Church of New Jerusalem. This
movement started during the mid-18th century from the writings and mystical experiences of Emmanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772). Swedenborgianism is a heterogeneous theology, “correcting” a great deal of orthodoxy. Like Joseph Smith, who founded Mormonism, Swedenborg was convinced he was a messenger from God to his generation. He wrote more than thirty religious volumes, based on communication
with “spirit guides”, who offered new biblical interpretations and extra-
biblical revelations (Tucker 1989:381). Swedenborg wrote, “I have written entire pages, and the spirits did not dictate the words, but absolutely guided my hand, so that it was they who were doing the writing … as flowed from God
‘Messiah’” (Sigstedt 1952:211).
Smith (1995:39) argued that Swedenborg’s spiritual approach to hermeneutics became a common feature among the exponents of “mind-cure”: The
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“correction” of the traditional, literal, sense-derived interpretation of scripture by a deeper, spiritually perceived understanding of revelation. Notions of this approach were also found in aspects of the P G message, and can be listed, therefore, among its numerous foundations.
- Mesmerism is derived from Franz Mesmer (1734-1815). He used magnetic cure supposedly to realign the body’s electricity. Mesmer’s theories and practices were rejected by the traditional medical community of his day; aspects of his theory, however, were further explored. In 1784 Count Maxime de Puysegur replaced the use of magnets with verbal commands and touch. Through mesmeric experimentation, Puysegur discovered two of the central elements of hypnosis: Artificially induced somnambulism, and
posthypnotic amnesia, which, according to Zweig (1932:72), was the origin of the modern science of psychology.
The foundational notion of this discovery was the theory of suggestion, the subjective mental suggestion, in modern psychology. Although Mesmer was not considered the father of “mind-cure”, his discoveries provided the
foundation for what becomes the “scientific component” of mental healing, a premise that is
obviously transitional to Christian Science and “mind-cure” (Smith 1995:44).
Mesmeric healing introduced Phineas Quimby to the concept of mental influence and healing, which in turn influenced E W Kenyon, and ultimately became a source for specific aspects of the Prosperity Gospel.
- Unitarianism started with the election and installation of Henry Ware to Harvard’s Divinity chair in 1805. Orthodox reaction to this event was the
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founding of Andover Seminary (1807) to train candidates for orthodox divinity, a task for which Harvard was no longer deemed acceptable (Wright 1975:8).
Unitarianism conveyed an overt anti-orthodox sentiment, embracing much of Enlightenment thinking, namely, a deistic worldview, utilitarian ethics,
and an epistemology combining empiricism, rationalism, and scepticism (Smith 1995:46). Such emphases later influenced and affected the “mind-cure”
movement (Atkins 1923:220–222).
- “Mind-cure” understood the miraculous in terms of discovering and utilising various laws of the universe while disregarding much of theology, based on revelation. Although “mind-cure” was not in the main Unitarian, indeed, aspects of Unitarian theology could be found to have influenced its
development in that it nurtured an anti-orthodox sentiment, and held a deep reverence for “natural law”; it emphasised the employment of reason in the inner life, and a number of leading figures in “mind-cure” were Unitarians or from that background (Atkins 1923:226). Consequently, Mind-cure and Unitarianism are among the sources of the Prosperity Gospel.
- Transcendentalism. This belief system brings together several core elements of “mind-cure”; specifically, the mystic character of eastern philosophy, a deified view of human potential, and the Swedenborgian understanding of
“cause and effect”. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882), a former Unitarian minister, pioneered the concepts of Transcendentalism in America, along with literary specialists, for example, Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, William Channing, and Theodore Parker.
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Transcendentalism basically maintained that the human spirit has unlimited potential. The physical senses were inadequate to reveal reality, which was knowable only by the inner perception of the human spirit. Gaining “revelation knowledge” was through direct influx of divine wisdom to the individual, transcending the natural science of the physical world (Judah 1967:26).
Kenyon, ultimately finding its way into aspects of the P G movement, introduced the concept of “revelation knowledge”.
From these influences on Prosperity Gospel emerged five characteristics that informed “mind-cure” and prosperity as a worldview:
- An idealism that stressed mind over matter, the objective world and also over riches
- A subjective epistemology aimed at the ascendancy of inner spiritual
perception over external physical sensation, with an application both to bodily conditions and word meanings
- The discovery and application of universal laws governing mind and matter with application to bodily healing, spiritual enlightenment and faith rewards regarding prosperity
- A mystic tendency concerning the nature of mind and matter, and their underlying harmony tending, in a sense, to deify humanity
- An on-going connection to the world of paranormal or occult knowledge and spiritism in particular (Smith 1995:55). The religious climate of this period informed the development of the P G by the atmosphere in which specific tenets of the movement were cultivated.
This “worldview” influenced most of the P G preachers to a major or minor degree, including the many serious deviations from the gospel of Christ. This would become
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clear in the analysis of the sermons of the ten prosperity sermons, which were researched.