Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola and George Barna

[Canuckster1127]

A Must Read Book for Many in these Days of Diminishing Evangelicalism, April 18, 2009

Frank Viola and George Barna have put together a book that every thinking Christian should read. Much of the information is not new. However, it has been put together with careful attention to detail and very thorough footnotes and sources.

This is not a book written to attack the Church although many may feel that way. It is a book written to address what at its root is a true proposition. Institutional Churches, whether Catholic, Protestant, Evangelical, Seeker Sensitive, and the list could go on, are at the core of their practise following many elements that do not in fact arise from the Bible or early church tradition. This is more than just a history lesson however.

When I first began reading this book, after having spent a great deal of time and effort in studying Organizational Leadership at a Master's level, I was first tempted to look at the arguments presented and just say, "So What?". Every culture's influence is exerted upon it's institutions. That is neither good nor bad in most instances, so unless the premise is that we should just return to the culture of the early church as if it were "the" culture of God then the argument is really not that strong.

As I read however, what I found is that this is far more than just culture being called into question. We're talking about hierarchies, philosophies and practices that find their root not just in cultural elements but in full scale adoption of systems, practices and their underlying belief system that include pagan temples, Greco-Roman pagan philosophy etc.

Then my next response was "Well, that's what the Reformation was all about wasn't it?" Well yes and no. Much of what took place at the Reformation was a rearranging of some things but in effect most of the elements of the existing Church system were left in place.

Today however, we have so much change taking place apparently in Churches with so many different "brands" available, surely these issues are being addressed? Well, not so much.

So is this a diatribe to destroy the Church? No. That's not what I read and further the litany of recommendations for this book from Bible Scholars and leaders within the Church should set that concern aside. Viola and Barna do have some suggestions to make and they are leaning in the direction of organic, non-institutional Churches. However even if that is not the decision of those reading this book, the information will equip even those remaining in the Institutional Church to be more discerning about what is really the faith preserved for all the ages and what is in effect just a stowaway that sadly in many cases has arisen to captain the ship.

5 Stars. A very important book.

Bart Breen