Money Doctrines: Traditional versus Word of Faith Teaching

There has been a significant volume of scholarly work conducted recently within the accounting literature on the role of money, investment and accounting within religious organizations. However, scant attention has been paid to modern Pentecostal understandings of money, investment and accounting, which is surprising given the high public profile of American televangelists who are nearly exclusively Pentecostal people. In this book we study the major money-related doctrines of American husband-and-wife televangelist Faith Teachers Kenneth and Gloria Copeland. We find the unique Copeland interpretation of “Treasures in Heaven” (Matthew 6:20) to be a complete inversion of the traditional or Anglican theological interpretation. While the traditional interpretation is that this verse refers to future rewards available after death, the Copelands argue that it refers to rewards existing now in the heavenly places in what they refer to as the believer’s “heavenly bank account”. The Copelands also believe in a literal “hundredfold return” on monetary and other gifts made “for the gospel’s sake” (Mark 10:29-30). Overall we find that the individualistic capitalistic pro-investment and stewardship position that Weber ascribes to Calvinism is emphasized in the Copelands’ teachings. However, this is balanced by warnings about the link between money and selfishness and a compassionate emphasis on the communalist principle of “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” (Marx).