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 Is today's Church into a revolution that will someday be understood as greater than the 16th Century Protestant Reformation?
Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola and George Barna will certainly add fuel to the fire of those affirming so. Most evangelicals would consider such a suggestion as absurd, or at best, exaggerated. Yet, undeniably, there is a grass roots revolution taking place on a global scale in Christendom about what it means to be the Church of Jesus Christ.
Basically the authors are making three points:
1) A great deal of what we do in church today does not come from the New Testament.
2) Much of what is practiced originated out of Greco-Roman customs and traditions (paganism, not Judaism), and/or human-made inventions.
3) Many of these practices actually hinder the church from being what God designed her to be.
The over-arching question the authors seem to be asking is: Do the practices of modern institutional churches reflect a God-ordained/inspired development, or are they a departure from it?
Of course, one must read the book to understand why Viola and Barna indeed question "church" as most of us know it.
Beware, though. This book comes with a WARNING:
If you are unwilling to have your Christianity seriously examined, do not read beyond this page...Spare yourself the trouble of having your Christian life turned upside down. (pg.7)
A glance at the content chapters will suffice as to the reason for the warning!
1-Have We Really Been Doing It By The Book?
2-The Church Building: Inheriting the Edifice Complex.
3-The Order of Worship: Sunday Mornings Set In Concrete
4-The Sermon: Protestantism's Most Sacred Cow
5-The Pastor: Obstacle To Every-Member Functioning
6-Sunday Morning Costumes: Covering Up The Problem
7-Ministers of Music: Second-String Clergy
8-Tithing and Clergy Salaries: Sore Spots On The Wallet
9-Baptism and the Lord's Supper: Diluting The Sacraments
10-Christian Education: Swelling The Cranium
11-Reapproaching the New Testament: The Bible Is Not A Jigsaw Puzzle
12-A Second Glance at the Savior: Jesus The Revolutionary
-The Next Step
-Final Thoughts: Q&A with Viola and Barna
If not already offended at some of the chapter titles, I can almost guarantee you will be after reading what is actually said concerning these staples of institutional Christianity! As difficult as it is to read material that questions church as we know it, this is a well documented book, with over 1200 enlightening footnotes from church historians, theologians down through the ages, the reformers and church fathers themselves, and an extensive eleven page bibliography.
Each of the above issues is traced back to its roots of origin and how it evolved over the years into what we have today. The traditions are then examined in the light of what the New Testament actually teaches. Each is shown--in its current form--to NOT be a New Testament practice, but rather, traditions rooted in paganism absorbed by the church down through the ages. Today, what we assume as "normal Christian practices," would have been strange aberrations for first-century believers.
Of all the chapters, the toughest for me to deal with personally was the chapter, Reapproaching the New Testament. The authors question the evangelical church's "clipboard approach" to the Bible where we cut and paste portions of text from one document into another to say "Scripture teaches..." I am still giving this whole issue some thought, but admit a lot of what they point out is true.
But I predict the most controversial chapter will be Chapter Five, "The Pastor" where the birth of the one-bishop rule is traced. Suffice it to say, this makes for some challenging reading, that will most certainly be hotly contested by many in our established church institutions.
One note of clarification: I do not hear the authors saying that because these practices are pagan, that they are wrong. Many things we do today are rooted in paganism (eg. our calendars, days of the week, etc.) What I do hear them asking is, which of these current practices/traditions actually hinder the church from being the church that God designed and ordained her to be?
Reviews of the soon-to-be-released Tyndale publication of "Pagan Christianity" are beginning to appear all over the blog world. If this title and subject interests you, check out some of the following reviews from people whose opinions I respect:
Pagan Christianity by Alan Hirsch
Pagan Christianity by TallSkinnyKiwi (Andrew Jones)
I Can't Believe This Book Is Getting Published a good review by Brant Hansen
Should we have a Pagan Christianity? by GodGrown
Pagan Christianity creates ripples by MessyChristian
Answers to questions and objections about PAGAN CHRISTIANITY by Frank Viola himself
Audio interview with Frank Viola on the Nick and Josh podcast shares interesting background material on why the book was rewritten and republished from the original 2002 "Pagan Christianity", along with some clarifications and insights from Frank
For those willing to "choose to 'take the red pill' and be shown 'how deep the rabbit hole goes'...if you want to learn the true story of where your Christian practices came from...if you are willing to have the curtain pulled back on the contemporary church and its traditional presuppositions fiercely challenged...then you will find this work to be disturbing, enlightening, and possibly life changing." (PG, page 7)
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There is a difference between following scripture and striving to duplicate first century Christianity in the twenty-first century. Despite being all the rage now, do we really want to go there, and refight the doctrinal battles that have already been won, with potentially different results? Or is that really the object--to change orthodox doctrine?
bobbobnabob,
I would say the "revolution" is not so much about doctrine, but about church praxis. Indeed the needed major doctrinal corrections were made with the 16th Century Reformation. What seems to be taking place now is an ever-growing awareness that those truths are best expressed by taking a second look at what Acts/Epistles have to actually say about the church, and how far we have strayed from the original intent of Christ and the Apostles. Have you had a chance yet to read the book?
Viola is right, the pastor is the wedge that stops every true believers function. Not just the position but those who want to be lead by a king. I know because I have tasted of first century church fellowship in the Spirit and it is a crime to call todays assemblies church! Now don't eveyone go out and leave the Sunday thing, we don't want the house churches filled with unregenerated church people.
I am almost finished with the book and I struggle with it. I understand much of what is being said in it . In fact, I have advocated much of what is being said in the book. However, I struggle with the authors continued assertion that he is not saying that modern practices are wrong. The tone is very accusatory and there is an implication in the language that these things are wrong. I am 23 and about to enter seminary. I have a hear for house church and missions, but this book is very disheartening to me. In my understanding and study of scripture, much of what he implies is wrong, I find a basis for it such as church leaders and payment for them. The "organic church" is probably one of the less credible and used models of the house church because it seems to ignore several very plain biblical principles. All this to say, the book is interesting, but the bias is too strong and hard to argue with when the scriptural interpretation is a bit off base.
Check out the new spoof video for the book. Very funny.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=hslswIal9u4
As someone who has had a run of bad church experiences I find this book a timely one to read, not because it might add fuel to fires of anger ad bad church experiences (in my case I believe it won't) but because as one who is questioning the nature of churches and in a position where one feels detached from church as they know it I feel I can read this without being too close to home; I could not have read it before and accepted it enough to consider the main assertions instead of being disgusted and leaving it on the shelf.
No doubt the assertions are made boldly, and are designed to provoke debate as well as reveal the strength of conviction the authors have about how they think church should be done. Yet still I don't feel that the authors are anything but for good change in the church in writing this. It confirms a few subconscious niggles I've had in my church experiences such as the effect of a traditional heritage-listed church building on my worship experience, the sense of unfairness of having the pastor do everything, the unhelpfulness of church structure in making every member feel they have something to contribute and be considered equally. I found the chapter about the way we read scripture on a cut-and-paste basis to be enlightening and also confirms my suspicion that profuse bible quoting in discussion and in forums has its problems.
I'm not sure how this every-member functioning model can pan out without someone asserting some leadership at some point though - if not by a designated faciliatator, then certainly by a dominant personality, as is the nature of human beings, however well-intentioned. I think the problems Paul had to address shows that no system is foolproof, but it'd be great to see such a model in action and the community that results from it. The closest I've seen would have to be a Vineyard church in Hong Kong, where every person could give a word or share a verse between sessions of worship. And ministry time means you either pray or are prayer for, everyone is involved, it's empowering to be involved in a community like that.
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There is a difference between following scripture and striving to duplicate first century Christianity in the twenty-first century. Despite being all the rage now, do we really want to go there, and refight the doctrinal battles that have already been won, with potentially different results? Or is that really the object--to change orthodox doctrine? Posted by bobbobnabob | Posted at 01/25/2008 5:35 PM
bobbobnabob,
I would say the "revolution" is not so much about doctrine, but about church praxis. Indeed the needed major doctrinal corrections were made with the 16th Century Reformation. What seems to be taking place now is an ever-growing awareness that those truths are best expressed by taking a second look at what Acts/Epistles have to actually say about the church, and how far we have strayed from the original intent of Christ and the Apostles. Have you had a chance yet to read the book?
Posted by Guy Muse | Posted at 01/25/2008 6:14 PMViola is right, the pastor is the wedge that stops every true believers function. Not just the position but those who want to be lead by a king. I know because I have tasted of first century church fellowship in the Spirit and it is a crime to call todays assemblies church! Now don't eveyone go out and leave the Sunday thing, we don't want the house churches filled with unregenerated church people. Posted by Mike | Posted at 01/27/2008 1:20 PM
I am almost finished with the book and I struggle with it. I understand much of what is being said in it . In fact, I have advocated much of what is being said in the book. However, I struggle with the authors continued assertion that he is not saying that modern practices are wrong. The tone is very accusatory and there is an implication in the language that these things are wrong. I am 23 and about to enter seminary. I have a hear for house church and missions, but this book is very disheartening to me. In my understanding and study of scripture, much of what he implies is wrong, I find a basis for it such as church leaders and payment for them. The "organic church" is probably one of the less credible and used models of the house church because it seems to ignore several very plain biblical principles. All this to say, the book is interesting, but the bias is too strong and hard to argue with when the scriptural interpretation is a bit off base. Posted by Matt | Posted at 02/26/2008 5:03 PM
Check out the new spoof video for the book. Very funny.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=hslswIal9u4
Posted by Jill | Posted at 04/08/2008 1:07 PMAs someone who has had a run of bad church experiences I find this book a timely one to read, not because it might add fuel to fires of anger ad bad church experiences (in my case I believe it won't) but because as one who is questioning the nature of churches and in a position where one feels detached from church as they know it I feel I can read this without being too close to home; I could not have read it before and accepted it enough to consider the main assertions instead of being disgusted and leaving it on the shelf.
No doubt the assertions are made boldly, and are designed to provoke debate as well as reveal the strength of conviction the authors have about how they think church should be done. Yet still I don't feel that the authors are anything but for good change in the church in writing this. It confirms a few subconscious niggles I've had in my church experiences such as the effect of a traditional heritage-listed church building on my worship experience, the sense of unfairness of having the pastor do everything, the unhelpfulness of church structure in making every member feel they have something to contribute and be considered equally. I found the chapter about the way we read scripture on a cut-and-paste basis to be enlightening and also confirms my suspicion that profuse bible quoting in discussion and in forums has its problems.
I'm not sure how this every-member functioning model can pan out without someone asserting some leadership at some point though - if not by a designated faciliatator, then certainly by a dominant personality, as is the nature of human beings, however well-intentioned. I think the problems Paul had to address shows that no system is foolproof, but it'd be great to see such a model in action and the community that results from it. The closest I've seen would have to be a Vineyard church in Hong Kong, where every person could give a word or share a verse between sessions of worship. And ministry time means you either pray or are prayer for, everyone is involved, it's empowering to be involved in a community like that.
Posted by rapturefish | Posted at 06/11/2008 9:50 AM