The neoliberal gospel : an examination of global Christian social forces in relation to states, societies, markets, and the production of global neoliberal hegemony

peer-reviewedThis dissertation analyses specific transnational Christian social forces in relation to states, societies, and markets. It is argued here that Pentecostal, charismatic, and fundamentalist Christian institutions and intellectuals constitute a globalised demographic group and transnational social identity that shares a common worldview. This common worldview is anchored by a singular meta-narrative and popular culture, and is expressed through corresponding forms of socio-political and economic activism within and between states, societies, and markets throughout the world. This phenomenon is defined in this dissertation as the Organic Pan-Christian Movement. It is argued in this dissertation that Organic Pan-Christian intellectuals and institutions are playing an increasingly important function in the production of global neo-liberal hegemony, and its precipitation into popularised forms of common sense and religion in a variety of different sets of social relations across the globe. This dissertation attempts to situate and contextualise the Organic Pan-Christian Movement within the larger discourses on International Relations, globalisation, and critical International Political Economy. This portrayal of the Organic Pan-Christian Movement is constructed with the social and political thought of Antonio Gramsci— using his theory of ‘hegemony’ and his analytical framework for examining individual and collective ‘conceptions of the world’. For over two millennia, Christian social forces have historically played vital roles in the production of successive world orders, and the configurations of politics, production, and philosophy therein. It is argued here that the Organic Pan-Christian Movement plays such a role in the present plural world order by precipitating the global supremacy of neoliberal philosophy into globalised forms of common sense and popular religion