Book Review – Pagan Christianity? – by Frank Viola & George Barna
Now I must be honest in saying that the first thing that caught my attention about this book was not the controversial title, Pagan Christianity?. It was actually the name of the main author – Frank Viola. I hadn’t heard of the Frank Viola that wrote this book before. My mind immediately went to a different Viola, the pro baseball pitcher, nicknamed “Sweet Music” who played from the early 80’s to the mid 90’s! I’m glad the name caught my attention, because this book is fantastic!
I recommend that everyone read this book. However, you must be issued a warning before you start. This book will turn your Christian world upside down…in a good way of course! I’m warning you – Your response to this book will almost certainly be either wholesale disagreement and rejection of what is said, or you’ll be excited about being the church and feel liberated to do so! Viola and Barna leave little middle ground.
This book filters every major practice of Christianity through the grid of Scripture and church history. When did Christians start worshipping in buildings called churches? When did clergy start getting paid a salary? For that matter, when did the distinction of clergy and laity begin? Why does the order of worship look so familiar no matter what church you go to? Where did that order of worship come from? When did Christians start paying a tithe and why? When did the sermon take up prominence in Christian worship and why? Are any of these things Scriptural? Are any of them clearly against Scripture? Whoooo…a can of worms I tell you! This book asks these hard questions and more. You’ll be surprised, if not shocked, by the answers.
My advice to you is that you should never utter the words “We are just doing things by the Bible” with regard to church practice until you read this book. You’ll save yourself some lies (from ignorance of course). So much of what we think we are doing by the book we actually borrowed from pagan culture. If nothing else, this book should leave you with a sense of gratefulness for the mercy of God who saves us even from our own messed up religious practices that have no biblical merit whatsoever.
Christianity needs this book. I’m glad to find out it has been written. I didn’t want to be the one to write it. Besides not being nearly as good at research and writing as this tandem, I’m glad that someone else can claim ownership of such a controversial call to change! I’ll take enough heat for recommending the book, I’m sure. What Viola and Barna write in this book is not rocket science. It’s plain as day, right before our eyes in the Scriptures themselves, but we’ve missed the forest for the trees. Go ahead, read it! You know you want to (and need to)!
May 6, 2008 at 3:38 pm
[...] unknown wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptNow I must be honest in saying that the first thing that caught my attention about this book was not the controversial title, Pagan Christianity?. It was actually the name of the main author – Frank Viola. I hadn’t heard of the Frank … [...]
May 6, 2008 at 4:16 pm
It’s a great book. Putting it into practice now is the problem. Like the blog
May 6, 2008 at 7:40 pm
I’m going to add this book to my reading queue. I’m currently reading “The Reason For God” by Timothy Keller (Redeemer Church - Manhattan) and it’s blowing my mind!! I highly recommend reading it.
I have this very rebellious spirit in me that just refuses to accept that Christianity today is the end-all that so many people would argue it is. If God’s Word is living and active, then its application is organic and growing.
The Church, in my opinion, should never settle into a routine - where water settles, it grows stagnant - it should always be moving and growing. We’ll never know all the answers and the “face of the Church” should reflect our constant seeking.
Oh - and thanks for stopping by!
May 6, 2008 at 11:35 pm
Red Wine,
Couldn’t agree more! Lord help us.
DJ,
I tend to have a bit of a renegade spirit as well. I try to keep it under control though. I think it is good to ask tough questions and not be afraid of tough answers, but you and I need to be careful not to be rebels just for the sake of ruffling feathers.
What would it look like if the Church never settled into any sort of routine? Towards the end of exploring that thought…I’m not sure the absence of religious practice is always the answer. It seems the argument against religion from the likes of Jesus and Paul was simply that we aren’t religious simply for the sake of being religious. Religion has no value in and of itself. James says, “If someone claims to be religious, but doesn’t bridle his tongue…his religion is useless. Pure and un-defiled religion before God is: taking care of orphans and widows in their misfortune and keeping oneself unstained by the world.” In other words being religious doesn’t matter if you disregard God’s commands to watch your tongue and it’s worthless unless it finds its expression in obeying the commands of Christ to care for the disenfranchised (only by way of example here in James…clearly Christ commanded us to do more than keep our tongue in check and care for orphans and widows).
My opinion, in case you were wondering, is that most religious rituals seem way beyond boring and pointless, but religiously obeying the call of Christ is the most exciting life one can have. Though I’ve been a Christian all my life, in many ways the excitement of the journey is just beginning!
Thank you both for stopping by.
Grace and Peace,
matt
May 7, 2008 at 3:31 am
Funny you should post this. I was just looking at this book at Amazon, wondering if I should buy it or not. So, I’ll have to add it to my wish list. I’m still working on Divine Conspiracy. Usually I go through books a lot faster than that, but this one requires a lot of thinking. I just read the bit about anger–I never understood that passage before. Cool!
Anyway, thanks for the review and for turning me on to Conspiracy
God’s Peace,
Cindy
May 24, 2008 at 7:06 am
You might enjoy a series that I am doing about this here:
http://kburchard.wordpress.com/
This was the subject of my degree thesis project. Some of my research is the foundation for the series on church structure, leadership, organic vs. organization, etc. I’d love your feedback. There are 4 posts on this thread right now. The most recent is a bit provocative.
You will probably be GREATLY challenged regarding the “Pagan Christianity” book’s conclusions by reading a critique of it by another HOUSE CHURCH GURU, Zane Anderson. Here’s his critique:
http://www.housechurch.org/blog/2008/02/18/pagan-christianity-real-hope-or-shrill-hype/
Zane is a House Church Movement leader, but he is incredibly articulate in his ability to punch holes in the prejudices that exist AGAINST organized churches in the house church ideology.
God bless you on your jorney friend,
Kenny / Hanford CA
May 24, 2008 at 9:19 pm
Kenny,
Thanks for stopping by. I agree with much of what you say. The bottom line is that the prevailing “model” of church in the NT was the house church. Clearly they had some serious problems. Problems exist no matter what model has ever been used. I still don’t think that excuses the very large and expensive problems that organized church has today. If we really believe the Christ is the one building his church, then we don’t need to make it a multi-billion dollar enterprise as we have here in the USA. It simply isn’t necessary.
Ultimately I agree with your point (that people and not the model are the problem), but I don’t think I agree with the assertion I sense you are trying to make (that the model does not matter). The model does matter. If all things are equal in terms of problems (and I think they are) then I’ll take house church problems over mega church problems any day. In fact, I think Viola and Barna are very clear that the house church is not free of problems…nor do they assert that it is the only thing God uses to advance his kingdom. They do, however, demonstrate how institutionalized church is ill-equipped to follow the pattern given in Scripture for the life of the Body. They also do a very good job of showing how our various traditions do more harm than good.
To set up house churches as the enemy does little good in my opinion. Neither does setting up institutionalized churches as such. However, if we give an honest assessment of the situation and really trust the Spirit of Christ to build his church, then I don’t think we come down on the side of “it doesn’t matter what model you follow.” That misses the point of Viola and Barna in “Pagan Christianity” and sets one up for very serious error in the practice of body life.
I only got to read the one post you wrote. I’ll come back and read the others soon. I’m pretty busy this weekend, but am intrigued by what you have to say.
Grace and Peace,
matt
June 18, 2008 at 11:47 pm
I agree Matt. I’ve never heard of Anderson. Most house church leaders who have influence today endorse the book. House church theologians Robert Banks, Wolfgang Simpson, John White, Howard Snyder, Jon Zens, Rad Zdero, Nate Krupp and other well known house church leaders as well as missional church leaders Alan Hirsch and Andrew Jones have written great reviews and endorsements on it.