This book explains why we churches do things the way they do by taking a look at the influences of pagan tradition and ritual on the church. It does present a lot of interesting information, however this is overshadowed by the authors clear agenda to promote the home church movement. While I appreciated being challenged by his views, and would even love to incorporate some of the strengths of the house churches he described, I thought he pushed his own agenda too much in this book. If you like church history this would be of interest to you, if you can get past the author's strong agenda. ( )

This book like the other Barna books is nothing more than strongly biased hostile church-bashing elitist rhetoric. This book is not only a waste of time, it is wrought with historical fallacy. Read this article by Ben Witherington III for an in depth critique from a New Testament historical scholar.
http://benwitherington.blogspot.com/2... ( )

A book I couldnt put down when I started reading it!

"When Christianity was born, it was the only religion on the planet that had no sacred objects, no sacred persons and no sacred places"

Easy to read, Frank Violas analysis of the historical context in which many christian traditions became part of church life is an eye-opener.

Some of the traditions he covers do not surpirse me. Church buildings for example, did not come into existance till Constantine legalised christianity in AD321, but others do. The Liturgy, sermons, and music are traditons that relate to non-christian cultures that christianity co-existed with.

Given that we are in a post-institutional era, it helps to be able to distingush between biblical principles that are not negotiable and those things which are addded on traditions and therefore can be sacrificed to stay connected with the generation we live in.

Viola is a house church believer which colours his perception of christian education, and his discussion on baptism is contradicted by the bible quotes he uses.

Very thought provoking and I strongly agree with the priesthood of all believers and its implications. It was a shock to me to contemplate that though the Refomers re-adopted this belief, they did not reintroduce it in practice. ( )

NCLA Review - Authors Viola and Barna trace the pagan roots of choirs, sermons, church buildings and hiring pastors to name just a few of the traditions discussed. The book views these “pagan” church practices and rituals critically. Numerous footnotes document the history of each “pagan” tradition while scripture references are presented describing the way in which the New Testament churches worshipped. The authors favor these first century church practices including meeting with a group of believers in a home where everyone shares spontaneously the Christ they encountered that week (through songs, short talks, scripture readings, etc.) The authors site scripture and interpret Paul’s instructions to churches as limited to a certain time and not necessarily to be applied to every church in every time. The authors do not seem to consider the possibility of this interpretation with reference to other instructions regarding procedures used in the early churches. Rating: 2—MS ( )

(Review originally published on my blog @ http://www.anthonymathenia.com/?p=194...)

It probably seems like a bit of an odd choice to follow up my last blog entry about the woeful nature of the Christian bookstore with a Christian book review. And not just any book at that; but, one coauthored by noted Christian research specialist, George Barna, and published by the Tyndale House, which, among others works, is responsible for printing the popular but eschalogically-challenged, Left Behind series. Not only that, but a book that has the word Pagan in the title and contents that are not really focused on Scripture, but pagan practices. So why the book review? Because, Pagan Christianity - Exploring the Roots of our Church Practices, at its center, is really not far off from what I write about and an important read for anyone involved in the modern-day church machine.

Tyndale Publishing’s release of Pagan Christianity is a revised and updated version of Frank Viola’s earlier work of the same name and is the follow-up to George Barna’s Revolution. The object of this volume is to trace the suspect origins of modern-day church practices and to expose their pagan roots. Whereas, since the time of Luther, there have been several books and treatises that detail the unbiblical nature of the practices of the Catholic Church, Pagan Christianity unequally, dares to hold the spotlight up to her daughters, the various Protestant sects.

Since my past is with the Jehovah’s Witnesses religion I thought I had a good understanding of pagan church practices. Like most religions, the Witnesses sanctimoniously pride themselves on having, what they consider, the true form of worship, virtually unchanged from the apostolic first-century congregation. In the early 1900’s, their founder Joseph Rutherford, sought to distance the Witnesses from other religions and in the process stripped out the elements that were believed to be of pagan origin.

What was enlightening to me was to find out that the Witnesses, while pointing pious fingers at other denominations and crying “pagan”, had kept many practices that had no foundation in scripture and come from a variety of outside influences. Pagan Christianity brings this to light. For instance, as Witnesses, we prided ourselves in our formal attire. We always dressed up for meetings, brothers wearing suits and sisters in dresses. We would often ridicule the other churchgoers who we would see going into their buildings in business casual, slacks and a polo shirt. In chapter six, Sunday Morning Costumes, Viola answers the question that is seldom asked, “Why do we dress up for church?” As it is revealed, the practice began not with reverence toward God, but through the development of upper societal classes that wished to distinguish themselves from the unwashed masses by fancy attire. One cannot consider such without being mindful of James when he condemned such “class distinctions” that arose in the first-century Congregation over similar matters of dress. (James 2:1-4)

Though wishing to distance themselves from other protestant denominations, the Witnesses’ Sunday meeting shares much of the same attributes as her sisters, which Viola traces back to a variety of pagan sources. The centerpiece of the Witnesses’ Sunday meeting is the “public talk”, which is simply a rebranded sermon. Pagan Christianity, shows how the standard three to five-point talk, with an introduction and conclusion, borrows its basic structure from the sermons of the Greek sophists. It is even presented in a similar manner, from a stage before a listening audience, and closed with appreciatory applause. The Witnesses, like virtually every other denomination, have special religious buildings. They seek to distinguish their buildings by referring to them not as “church buildings” but as “Kingdom Halls”. However, the name change does little to conceal that they have not followed the earlier Christian example of meeting in private homes; but, rather in special, religious buildings that originated with the borrowed basilicas of the Roman empire. Even in matters where the Witnesses claim uniqueness, such as their door-to-door ministry, it is found that these are not retained from an Apostolic tradition, but rather late-century invention, in this case of the 19th century father of mass evangelism, D.L. Moody.

It should be noted that Pagan Christianity is not written as an expose of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, in fact they are not even mentioned by name. The scope is much broader and touches all contemporary Christian religious groups to some extent or other; because, they all have the same family tree. It is written in such a way that no matter what denominational background a Christian may have they will be positioned to hold their traditions and practices up for inspection and see if the roots are sound and truly come from Scripture or, as in most cases, originate from outside influences. The power of this book is that it cannot be ignored. It is bound to cause, not only examination; but, serious discussion, pro and con. I would like to take a moment to contribute to that dialog.

Though I agree and appreciate what Viola has compiled and written; I feel it is a major omission to leave out of the consideration, two of the biggest pagan influences that have made their mark on the Christian landscape. These are the holidays of Christmas and Easter. On the book’s companion website, paganchristianity.org, this is addressed. Viola explains that his concern was on pagan practices that hinder or adversely influence the proper functioning of the body of Christ and that he feels borrowed pagan-holidays do not cause any harm. I believe this claim is undermined by what he writes in the concluding section of the book.

The book’s “afterword”, asks us to consider if it matters to God how we worship him. Drawing from an Old Testament account of 2 Samuel chapter 6, it provides a powerful assertion that it does. The chapter is about when King David sought to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. This event was filled with sincere and heartfelt worship, singing, dancing, and music from King David and the nation of Israel. However, God was not pleased with this worship because the ark was not being carried in his ordained manner, by Levite priests, but rather, was carried on a wooden cart. Viola draws attention to this grave mistake when he writes,

"Israel’s error was that they didn’t seek God according to “the prescribed way.” That is, they didn’t worship God according to His way. They worshiped Him in their own way. It’s important to note that Israel borrowed the idea to place the holy Ark on a wooden cart from the heathen Philistines! (See 1 Samuel 6:1-12.)"

Since Christmas and Easter are Christianity’s two biggest seasons for worship I would like to ask if it matters to God if we worship in a manner borrowed from pagan religions during these times? Because from my perspective, borrowed fertility symbols such as easter eggs and feast-day celebrations of pagan gods are much bigger than wooden carts. This is particularly worthy of thought because these holidays have little to do with the prescribed manner Jesus gave to us to observe his earthly life. But rather, in passing a symbolic loaf of bread and cup of wine, during a communal feast, Jesus said, “do this in remembrance of me.” (Luke 22:19)

It will be interesting to see how the revised and updated version of “Pagan Christianity” affects the larger Christian landscape. The original release has become a staple for those already meeting outside the institutional Church. It validated the feelings of the brethren that something was lacking in the traditional way of worshiping; and, it gave historical proof that the Church, by and large, had indeed lost her plot. The question is, will this work be powerful enough to change the minds of those who have not yet seen any problems in the way that they “do church”?

While the book does much to show where the institutional Church had erred and moved down a crooked path over the years it does not really delve too deeply into what individuals should do about it. Although, the “afterword” is entitled “The Next Step” it calls for more introspection than action. It ends by asking the reader to prayerfully consider what had been written and start thinking accordingly. This is perhaps appropriate because a Christian would have to make a profound mental shift before taking a physical, next-step.

One of the things I continue to appreciate about Frank Viola is that he recognizes the centrality of Jesus Christ within the Christian Church. In the last few pages of the book he points to Jesus for the inspiration for which we, as his body, should begin to model ourselves around. (In truth we, his Church, should never have stopped in the first place.) It is my understanding that Frank Viola is currently writing a follow up which will discuss more practically what someone who has decided to come out of “pagan Christianity” might do in moving toward a more sound, Christ-centered form of corporate worship. It is my opinion, that if we get the hearts of Christians back to Christ, the hard work is done and the rest will ultimately take of itself. At the same time I appreciate and recognize the gifts that we have in brothers and sisters that can render loving aid in our spiritual growth.