Pagan Christianity: A Perspective

What would do if you found out that most of what you associate as ‘church’ has its roots in pagan culture?

It’s an unsettling question and one that intrigued me enough to pick up Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola and Georga Barna. From the book’s back cover:

Are we really doing church “by the book”?
Why does the pastor preach a sermon at every service?
Why do church services seem so similar week after week?
Why does the congregation sit passively in pews?

Not sure? Pagan Christianity makes an unsettling proposal: Most of what present-day Christians do in church each Sunday is rooted not in the New Testament, but in pagan culture and rituals developed long after the death of the apostles. Authors Frank Viola and Georga Barna support their thesis with compelling historical evidence and extensive footnotes that document the origins of our modern Christian church practices.

The book covers a wide variety of common church practices, from church buildings to Christian education, from sermons to pastors, from tithing to orders of worship - taking each one and stepping through historical evidence that shows how each originated, how each were influenced heavily (if not completely) by the culture outside of the church, and how each has arrived at what we find as commonplace on Sundays all over the world.

The book is fascinating, especially from a historical perspective. This is the book’s greatest strength, as the pages are literally packed with footnotes and citations stepping you through the evidence. This also happens to be the greatest deficit in the book as it may prove too textbookish at times to the average reader. To the interested reader, however, the evidence is not only compelling but many times overwhelming. Viola caps off the chapters with a sort of “So what?” section with his arguments for what the dangers and implications are for doing church the way the book dissects.

This is not a book for everyone. It should be, but it won’t, as there are some who simply won’t want to subject themselves to the unsettling nature of the text. The authors make the same claim at the very beginning of the book…

If you are unwilling to have your Christianity seriously examined, do not read beyond this page. Give this book to Goodwill immediately! Spare yourself the trouble of having your Christian life turned upside down.

However, if you 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 come 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.

Put another way, if you are a Christian in the institutionalized church who takes the New Testament seriously, what you are about to read will force you to have a crisis of conscience. For you will be confronted by unmovable historical fact.

On the other hand, if you happen to be one of those rare breeds who gathers with other Christians outside the pale of organized Christianity, you will discover afresh that not only is Scripture on your side - but history stands with you as well.

Viola was gracious enough to answer some questions from me about the book to post with this review. I’d encourage you to check out the book. You can find more information about this book & the follow-up, Reimagining Church, on his website at frankviola.com. You can also follow him on his blog or on Twitter.

What was your motivation behind writing this book? Every critic will have their own opinion on your motivation, but I’d like to hear from you as to what birthed this book.

To make room for the Centrality and Headship of Jesus Christ. To clear space for Him to be expressed in His fullness. That God’s people would know and express Christ is the motive.

How did you get connected with George Barna and what did he lend to the book?

George read the original edition of the book, which was published in 2003. He said it blew him away. He contacted me and he said he wanted to get it out to a wider audience. So we worked on a second edition together and Tyndale House wanted to publish it.

Tell me a little about Reimagining Church and it’s relationship to this book

Sure. Pagan Christianity was never intended to be a stand-alone book. It was only the first half of the argument. Reimagining Church is the second half of the argument that Pagan begins.

Both books can be likened unto a puzzle. Pagan Christianity demonstrates that the picture on the box has been wrong, and that’s why the pieces haven’t been fitting together. Reimagining Church presents a fresh vision of the picture on the box that’s rooted in the teachings of Jesus and the apostles. Pagan Christianity is the deconstructive side of the argument; Reimagining Church is the constructive side. Both books go together, forming a compelling and insightful vision of the church after God’s own heart.

If someone has read Pagan Christianity, they really should read Reimagining else they will be left with only the first part of the conversation. Reimagining Church, I believe, is the most important half of the conversation because it’s the practical “where do we go from here” piece.

Posted 02.09.2009

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