© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2021 | doi:10.1163/15700666-12340178 Journal of Religion in Africa 50 (2020) 32–53 brill.com/jra Questioning Growth: Christianity, Development, and the Perils of Wealth in Southern Ethiopia Julian Sommerschuh Philosophisches Seminar, Universität Köln, Köln, Germany julian.sommerschuh@uni-koeln.de Abstract Research on the economic effects of African Christianity has mainly focused on Pentecostalism. The dominant opinion of this literature is that Pentecostalism stimu- lates economic activity and supports economic development. This article looks beyond Pentecostalism by discussing the case of an Evangelical church in southern Ethiopia. Covering a period of two decades, I trace a shift in the relation between Evangelicalism and local aspirations for economic development. Initially seen as a means to achieve religious ends, the pursuit of development has recently been problematized as a source of social and spiritual ills. The church now discourages excessive participation in the commercial economy, and dedicated Evangelicals relinquish economic oppor- tunities that they fear could lead them into sin. This shows that while Christianity can stimulate processes of economic development it can also constrain these, motivating people to renounce the quest for wealth in favour of other values. Keywords Christianity – development – economic change – Ethiopia – values 1 Introduction Over the past few decades Christianity has grown rapidly across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. This has led to renewed interest in an old question: what are the economic effects of Christianity? Weber (1930) famously argued that early modern Protestantism played a part in the rise of capitalism and the