The Pimp and the Preacher

Abstract

The last part of this novel’s blurb on the back cover reads, ‘After reading The Pimp and the Preacher, one may ask if this is just a scandalous novel or if it is possibly true”. Gerald Gibbs provides us with a critical and penetrating view of the state of the church which preys on the ignorance of its members in America’s black community that is itself in a state of decline. This story is, in many respects, similar to what obtains in African countries such as Botswana. In recent years in Botswana, there has been a proliferation of ‘prosperity churches’, mostly of West African origin whose priests aggressively demand tithes and hefty offerings from their congregations. The unsuspecting church members are in most cases desperate for employment, cure for sicknesses and general prosperity. In the past two years or so the government of Botswana has had to intervene by deporting some of the unscrupulous foreign pastors and closing down some of the churches after it was discovered that they were not registered with the relevant authorities.