{"id":377,"date":"2014-10-09T07:05:00","date_gmt":"2014-10-09T07:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/10\/are-the-osteens-evangelical-outliers.html"},"modified":"2014-10-09T07:05:00","modified_gmt":"2014-10-09T07:05:00","slug":"are-the-osteens-evangelical-outliers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/10\/are-the-osteens-evangelical-outliers.html","title":{"rendered":"Are the Osteens Evangelical Outliers?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Recently Victoria Osteen, wife of pastor Joel Osteen, made some comments<\/a> that concerned many Christians. Apparently, she stated that worship was not for God but for the worshiper, that when people obey God, they should do it for themselves (although she later revised<\/a> some of these comments). <\/span><\/p>\n

For many evangelicals, the Osteens are on the periphery of Christianity. They represent the \u201cprosperity gospel\u201d\u2014a message that claims that God will bless the faithful with financial gain. Prosperity preachers often live extravagant lifestyles and point to their wealth as evidence of their message. They often quote biblical passages, taking them very literally, to further their claims that God\u2019s desire is health and wealth.<\/p>\n

Many evangelicals, however, assert that God doesn\u2019t work in this way. Faithfulness to God doesn\u2019t mean blessings from above, especially in such worldly pursuits. They try to distance themselves from the prosperity gospel, claiming that it doesn\u2019t represent Christianity but a misunderstanding of it.<\/p>\n

It is possible, however, that the Osteens represent not the margins but the center of evangelicalism. Considering the Osteens\u2019 popularity, they garner a sizable audience that shouldn\u2019t be ignored. Additionally, when one compares the Osteens to other popular evangelical authors such as Max Lucado and Rick Warren, several patterns emerge, suggesting that Osteens aren\u2019t that far from what most evangelicals are looking for.<\/p>\n

Based on the popular culture of the movement, contemporary evangelicalism isn\u2019t about belief or politics but about feelings. The writings, the music, and the media of evangelicalism reveal how Christianity should make you feel, not necessarily what to think. Certainly there are evangelical intellectuals out there\u2014pastors, historians, philosophers, and yes, even scientists. Yet the core of popular evangelicalism is found in a type of feeling that says that you as an individual are the most important thing in the world to God. It can be summed up in Lucado\u2019s words: \u201cIf God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read the rest here<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently Victoria Osteen, wife of pastor Joel Osteen, made some comments that concerned many Christians. Apparently, she stated that worship was not for God but for the worshiper, that when people obey God, they should do it for themselves (although she later revised some of these comments). For many evangelicals, the Osteens are on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nAre the Osteens Evangelical Outliers?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Recently Victoria Osteen, wife of pastor Joel Osteen, made some comments that concerned many Christians. 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