Law and promise

The Christian Century on Joel Osteen.

It’s actually a pretty balanced article giving Osteen credit for having a multi-racial ministry for one thing. It also points out that the “prosperity” gospel isn’t necessarily as far from the Christian mainstream as one might think:

In some ways Osteen echoes an ancient and venerable Christian tradition that borrows from Aristotle in calling itself “eudaemonistic.” That is, Christianity offers the happiest life possible. The church fathers and medieval thinkers who picked up this philosophical tradition did have ample biblical material with which to integrate it. “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart,” the psalmist promises. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you,” Jesus says. What Christian could fail to agree that our faith claims to offer the fullest life of joy and abundance possible?

Though the author points out that Scripture has a decisively less rosy take on wealth to say the least.

Plus, there are other serious theological deficiencies in Osteen’s preaching, the writer thinks:

Osteen’s version of the gospel is full of “ifs.” If we enlarge our vision, if we choose to be happy, if we think thoughts and speak words of victory and blessing, if we give of ourselves abundantly—then God will bless us with everything we want. The conditional nature of these sentences is telling. This is not a gospel of grace, in which God acts in spite of our lack of faithfulness to redirect our wants. Instead this is a gospel of reward in which God does nothing until we get our act together. In traditional Christian theology, Protestant and Catholic alike, we can do nothing in and of ourselves to merit God’s favor. Rather, God comes to us in Christ when we are without merit, without ability to please God and without reason to think we can be saved or helped. Such a view of grace is surely part of the grumpy theology Osteen seeks to upend—but it is central to Christianity.

More here.