Pagan Christianity?: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices

by Frank Viola, George Barna

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Edition: Hardcover

Publisher: BarnaBooks

ISBN: 141431485X

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Have you ever wondered why we Christians do what we do for church every Sunday morning? Why do we "dress up" for church? Why does the pastor preach a sermon each week? Why do we have pews, steeples, choirs, and seminaries? This volume reveals the startling truth: most of what Christians do in present-day churches is not rooted in the New Testament, but in pagan culture and rituals developed long after the death of the apostles. Coauthors Frank Viola and George Barna support their thesis with compelling historical evidence in the first-ever book to document the full story of modern Christian church practices.




Reviews

Deeply flawed -	Pagan Christianity?: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices Review


This book gives the appearance of being carefully researched with its extensive notes, list of Key Figures in Church History, and fairly wide-ranging Bibliography. Sad to say, that is not the case. Instead, it is rather shoddily put together, which is often the case of books seeking to present a "restorationist" view of the history of Christianity. The thesis of Pagan Christianity--that somewhere early on the Christian Church abandoned its original, primitive self-understanding and began to conform itself to paganism--is nothing new, despite its sensationalist title. Typically, however, books taking this view on early Church history concentrate on doctrinal issues and come from a theologically liberal Protestant perspective, whereas this book (apparently) affirms orthodox Christian doctrine and instead concentrates mainly on what it considers to be departures from New Testament Church practice. Nothing wrong with that, one might suppose, except for the inconvenient fact that rather little is known about actual New Testament Church practices, and that what is known either contradicts the authors' thesis or is quite controversial and by no means settled. For example, the authors talk about the so-called truncation of the Lord's Supper, but already St. Paul, in the late 50s or early 60s of the first century, concentrates on Jesus' words referring to the Bread and the Cup of the Last Supper as his body and blood (1 Cor. 11:24, 25) and earlier says, "Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?" (1 Cor. 10:16). In A.D. 110 Ignatius of Antioch writes, "[Heretics] abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the Flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ" (Letter to Smyrnaeans, 6:2). And by A.D. 150 Justin Martyr says that the bread and wine are "made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down by him, and by the change of which our flesh and blood is nourished, is both the Flesh and Blood of that incarnate Jesus" (First Apology 66, 20). Further, there are many knotty issues of hermeneutics and exegesis that the authors are either unaware of or choose to ignore because they would severely vitiate their thesis. Additionally, once extra-biblical documents about the early Church begin to appear around A.D. 100-170, they describe Church practices quite different from what the authors' tell us was the norm during New Testament times. What the authors of Pagan Christianity are asking us to believe is that the earliest sub-Apostolic figures whose writings are extant, Ignatius of Antioch and Clement of Rome, who may have known the Apostles, got Church understandings like the monarchical episcopate, the threefold ministry (bishop, priest, and deacon), and the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist completely wrong. Yet these are the same people who are laying the foundations of Christian doctrines like the Trinity, the two natures of Jesus, and the hypostatic union, even as they fought off the first deadly heresy, Gnosticism. How is it that they were getting the doctrine part right, but botching ministry, worship, and ecclesiology? What principle is at work here? If the Holy Spirit was to lead the Church into all truth, how is it that these first successors of the Apostles got so much wrong? Another problem for the authors is that they typically say the point of departure from what they think are proper early Church understandings occurred in the fourth century, starting with the Edict of Milan in 313, when Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. One problem with this view is that the Church already had firmly in place and without dissent by the middle to the end of the second century the same structures, patterns of worship, Eucharistic practice and meanings, and ministry that it had in the fourth century. Yes, there were developments and fuller explanations of already existing practices and understandings, but there is no discontinuity of any significance between the second and third century Church and the Church of the fourth century. But if you acknowledge that the Church was essentially Catholic by the end of the first century or beginning of the second century--which just about nobody disputes these days--you have a very difficult time explaining how a Church whose leadership either knew the Apostles or knew men that knew them so quickly departed from supposed New Testament understandings. Better to move the departure point forward to the fourth century, which is what the authors do. But wait a minute. Does it really do any good to locate the Big Departure in the fourth century? Isn't this the century of the Councils of Nicea and Constantinople, which once-for-all defined that Jesus was "of one being with the Father," which all orthodox Christians believe? Wasn't this the century of one of the greatest heroes of the faith, Athanasius, who was exiled from his Episcopal See five times by Arian Emperors, and who wrote the classic text on Jesus' Incarnation, De Incarnatione Verbi Dei, for which C. S. Lewis wrote an introduction? Wasn't this the century of St. Jerome, the first great Bible translator? Wasn't this the century of the great Cappadocian Fathers, Basil the Great, Gregory Nazianzus, and Gregory of Nissa, who together pretty much saved the Church from the deadly heresy of Arianism? Wasn't this (and the first third of the fifth century) the century of St. Augustine, perhaps the greatest theologian of the Christian Church? Are these great heroes of the faith part of the "Pagan Christianity" that supposedly took over the Church of the fourth century? Speaking of Nicea, it would be interesting to hear what the authors think of the Nicean Creed, which describes the relationship between the Father and Son with a non-biblical word, homoosious--"of one being," or "of the same substance"--against the Arian position that Jesus and the Father are homoiosious, or "of like substance." Which brings up the fatal flaw of this book (and all "restorationist" books that try to drive a wedge between the New Testament Church and the emergence and development of the Catholic from the first through the fourth centuries): the fundamental doctrines of the Christian Church that all orthodox Christians accept as true were bitterly fought for and won by a Church that the authors consider to be so corrupted by paganism as to be essentially not in continuity with the New Testament Church. The question is, If the Church had become so corrupted by paganism, why accept the doctrinal developments but reject the ecclesiological, ministerial, liturgical, and Eucharistic developments? Protestants more knowledgeable and honest about the history of the early Church have realized that if you question these latter developments, you've got to question the doctrinal developments as well. Thus in Germany, beginning with F. C. Baur, continuing with Adolf von Harnack, and carrying through to Walter Bauer and Martin Werner, a school arose to try to drive a wedge between putative "primitive Christianity" of the first two-thirds of the first century and a "Hellenized Catholic Christianity" that arose between the end of the Apostolic Age and the beginning of the second century. A similar and even more radical movement arose to try to drive a wedge between Jesus and Paul. Whatever traction these movements may have gained at one time has been entirely undone in the face of recent Early Church scholarship, which has shown these positions to be completely untenable. (See Ben F. Meyer's The Aims of Jesus, The Early Christians: Their World Mission and Self-Discovery, and Critical Realism & the New Testament; and N. T. Wright, The New Testament and the People of God, for an overview of the decline of these movements.) More recently, especially in the U. S., a similar, more radically postmodern movement has arisen, with even more specious results, under the leadership of persons like Bart Ehrman, Elaine Pagels, and John Dominic Crossan, trying to establish a multiplicity of equally valid Christianities that were eventually subdued by Catholic Christianity. Important to note is that all these movements acknowledge the uncontested appearance on the scene of an essentially Catholic Christianity as the normative expression of Christianity as soon as non-biblical Church documents begin to appear around the end of the first century. Thus, if the task of the committed "restorationist" to decouple the primitive Church from the Catholic Church is to succeed, it must begin at a much earlier date than Viola and Barna assert and it must be more all-encompassing, embracing a critique of doctrinal developments (orthodoxy) as well as practical developments (orthopraxy). But all this has already been tried and has failed, from Liberal German Protestantism to the Jehovah's Witnesses, from Adventism to Mormonism, from the Plymouth Brethren to the "Table Church" movement. All in all, Pagan Christianity is a deeply flawed book that fails to give either an accurate or coherent picture of what was really going on in the Christian Church from New Testament times through the fourth century and beyond.

Viola and Barna got it right! -	Pagan Christianity?: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices Review


I just finished reading my copy of Pagan Christianity? I was hard to do. I spent 11 years of my life as an Evangelical Pastor(professional clergy). If you are a pastor, please read Chapter 5 in the book! You need to, just do it! I was a member of a leading Evangelical denomination for 34 years. I was raised in that denomination so I was immersed in it's approach to faith in God for a total of 52 years. I left the Pastorate and my membership in that organization 2 years ago. I just read the book. So you see the book came after I discovered the truths laid out in the book! The response of the elders and "Senior Pastor" of the congregation from which I left was to avoid me like I have a dread disease. After they told me I was insubordinate or not doing my job, they still wanted me to come back to be a "layman" and serve the Lord with them! They tried for a while to get me to come back but only on "their terms" which would mean I would have to submit to men's traditions and not the words of Jesus. When I offered friendship but would not 'dance their dance' they quit calling and some walk the other way in the store or on the street. Barna wrote Revolution and it nailed what I am seeing happen in the USA and here in Michigan. There is a huge exodus of folks from the "institutional church" and yet these people are not leaving their faith in Jesus. They are not disbelieving the Bible, but rather they are finding true community with others who share their sketicism about the "church" and the leaders who dominate/subjegate the people. They are seeking "every-member-participatory" life together as the Body of Christ. Furthermore, they want Jesus to be the true Head of the Body and they are not willing to be pushed around anymore by men with seminary degrees! God is quite capable of leading His Church gathered, the ekklesia or assembly, without the power-trips and control-freakish behavior of the so-called clergy. This is why this book, Pagan Christianity?, is so timely. It analyzes the problem. It delineates the source of the problem. It shows a way out of the problem. And finally, it affirms what so many believers in Jesus are sensing is in fact a serious problem! This can only serve to help the Body of Christ get back to the pattern of keeping in step with the Spirit and living life together by the words of Jesus and the Apostles, and still do it effectively in the 21st Century context. The naysayers will no doubt attack this book. Just read the other reviews to see some attacks. But Frank and George have given the Missional Church, the Bride of Christ, a real treasure here in Pagan Christianity? It will stand the test of time. When we stop spending Billions of US dollars on buildings and the personal empires of "holy men", and redirect those resources into the life of the Body of Christ as HE leads (so far God is still able to lead without help from "clergy"), we will see radical change that really brings justice and hope and financial help to the poor and dying and sorrowing of this world. When we have gatherings of His Body where HE leads and the presence of God is so wonderful, people wil be drawn to know Christ! Men's hearts will be laid bare and they will cry out to God for salvation! If She does what Frank Viola advocates in this book, the Church will regain Her bearings to live in true freedom. We can be set free from the lies that the "institutional church" has passed down over the centuries. We do not need James Dobson, Robert Schuller, Rick Warren, Joel Osteen, Joyce Meyers, nor Paula White nor any other of a host of TV/Celebrity Evangelicals to tell us how to hear from God! God is in us and will guide us if we have received the new birth through Jesus' finished work on the Cross! We must not go solo, however! We are born again into community and we need each other to grow and flourish. Do not be led by the nose anymore Church! Be the Church, do not "go to church" to be deceived any more! Enjoy the book and the sequel! Brother Gregg

Pagan Christianity -	Pagan Christianity?: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices Review


My first thoughts along the lines of this book's message were about 30 years ago. I went year by year to churches and a lot of Christian gatherings feeling kind of like a porkchop at a Kosher wedding. I met very few people who thought like I did. Last year, I read Revolution by George Barna and had all my "knowing" validated. What joy to know I am not alone. Now, here is Pagan Christianity, with these ol' boys (Frank Viloa and George Barna) forevermore shuckin' the corn!!! Everything that I have believed about the institutional church is confirmed, documented historically, backed up by Scripture and written in a style/language that anybody can understand. It is a truth that needs to be realized and reckoned with. To every person who is sitting or ever has sat through "church" and wondered "is this all there is to it?" and "shouldn't there be more?", I say, please get this book. It has the answers to your questions.

Awesome book! -	Pagan Christianity?: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices Review


I read the book as someone who is a strong believer. But I've always felt intuitively that much of what we do and practice in 'church' is perhaps somewhat peculiar or off base in some way. I thank these men for this book, written not to tear down but to clarify. I found it exciting to see anew the original intentions of the gospels and the clarity of the early church. This is a book that every Christian should read and absolutely not be threatened by!

Great book to launch a further study -	Pagan Christianity?: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices Review


I was sitting in a restaurant reading this book when a guy who worked there started talking with me about his conversion, then adding "it's ok if you're a pagan..." I got a good laugh at that one. In all actuality, this book was very refreshing for me. I come from a very heavy tradition of church involvement but more in the way of the institution being such a dominant force that somehow I had lost my way even as to what the point of it all was. I do believe in the larger presence that is the Church and I look around at all the "churches" and wonder how in the world it got to be like this...not just the way they work, but the attitude behind the way they work. This has been a question of mine for a while and I feel thankful for the time/energy put in to researching all this for us as it really has propelled me down the road of research on this. I look forward to more!

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Pagan Christianity?: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices by by Frank Viola,George Barna

							September 8, 2008


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