Radical economic approach in Pentecostalism: A Pentecostal response to economic difficulties

Abstract

Economies of the African continent have been faced with difficulties in the last decade caused by various factors including coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), unemployment, poverty and so forth. In the South African context, there is another factor that has emerged in the last decade called ‘load-shedding’ resulting in power cuts that affected the economy of the country. Consequently, many small businesses had cut jobs as they could not afford alternative energy generation such as generators and solar energy. These harsh economic conditions have produced some level of economic difficulties where the economy is not growing because of job losses and other challenges. How do Pentecostals respond to economic difficulties? This article attempts to answer this question through the radical economic approach. This approach is framed as a theory that confronts the conventional economic approaches. In addition, this theory is based on radical giving, radical charities and radical development.

Contribution: The radical economic approach is relevant in dealing with economic difficulties; however, its radical giving has the potential to produce some level of exploitation of the poor and the marginalised in some instances. To deal with these exploitations, this article suggests a radical economic approach that will be considerate of the poor and the marginalised in communities by juxtaposing it with radical sociology.