This thesis examines the megachurch phenomenon in the United States since the 1950s as a way of explaining the transformation of pastorship in Christianity with the onset of American neoliberalism. This examination relies on Michel Foucault’s analysis of pastorship and pastoral power in the Christian pastorate and a variety of literature regarding American neoliberalism. By using the theology of the prosperity gospel and the identity and role of the pastor in a megachurch, this thesis proposes that pastoral power in megachurches is a function of power quite different from traditional pastoral power as analyzed by Foucault. Furthermore, the pastor of a megachurch is also fundamentally different from the traditional pastor. These changes are, in large part, due to biopolitics and the spread of American neoliberalism.
