Pentecostalism, Theology of Survival and Food Security in Zimbabwe

This chapter examines some of the controversial Zimbabwean Pentecostal beliefs and practices, enshrined in their theology of survival. The deployment of the theology of survival that revolves around food security is located within the matrix of the gospel of prosperity, dominion and culminates in excessive accumulation. The argument is that the Pentecostal theology of survival adopts a capitalist orientation that has covert structures of oppression and exploitation. Thus, blurring the division between the blessings of God and greediness. Through participant observation as a member of a leading international Pentecostal denomination and research in different Pentecostal churches and ministries in Zimbabwe, the chapter analyzes sermons and practices in selected key churches, both older and newer for a balanced critique. The theology and its tenets have both political overtones and strong economic bearings on livelihoods and sustainable development. The aspect of the Protestant ethic of capitalism whereby the believers are encouraged to accumulate as much wealth as possible, in the name of holiness (Max Weber The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, 1st Edition, London, Routledge, 1930), has far-reaching consequences that create human-made poverty (Obvious Vengeyi, Zimbabwean Poverty is man-made! Demystifying Poverty by appealing to the prophetic book of Amos, Scriptura, Journal for Biblical, Theological and Contextual Hermeneutics, 107, 107–138, 2012). They thrive under these circumstances, particularly because their theology promotes varied modes of capitalism such as penny capitalism (Maxwell, “Delivered from the Spirit of Poverty”?: Pentecostalism, Prosperity and Modernity in Zimbabwe, JRA, 28, 3, 309–337, 1998). Consequently, the gap between the rich and the poor widens, the religious elite promoting the worst forms of capitalism that leaves the masses in abject poverty.