Pagan Christianity, a book by authors Frank Viola and George Barna, makes bold claims, and in most cases can back them up with historical facts.
Pagan Christianity, a book by authors Frank Viola and George Barna, makes bold claims, and in most cases can back them up with historical facts.
The book posits that many of the traditions of the western church have pagan roots, and in many cases make it more difficult for people to come to Christ. It goes through various traditions chapter by chapter, looking at their history and how they have developed. It also compares these church traditions to the operation of the Early Church. For those still fond of traditional church it may be quite a challenging book. Many of the authors points and critiques of current church tradition are valid. However, the alternative does seem somewhat under explained, I do believe that the authors have other books that go into what their alternative would look like.
It should be noted that while attempts are made to avoid it, the book comes off with a negative tone generally. In addition, some of the historically points are underdeveloped or “not quite true”. As in they aren’t wrong, but it’s not the whole story. It also goes into a bit of “great man history”, portray events happening due to the decisions of a few important people. When in truth it is often much more complicated.
One of my biggest critiques of the book is that many church practices not only come out of culture, but practicality. Stained glass windows in medieval churches told stories from the bible to a people who could not read, for example.
I however did quite like the parts that talked about how the church building effects behavior. I do think they are correct in saying that a traditional church, by the virtue of how it operates, can promote a fairly lethargic faith. The challenging of so called “unchallengeable” traditions is important. As such we should strive to look towards new ways of doing church that promote a more active faith. It is after all quite easy to fall into an unchallenging routine. As such I agree with the books central message, that we should not shy away from critiquing church tradition.
In all I would recommend reading this book with an open mind, and an awareness that the authors are American and writing to an American context.
Book Review by Micah Jacobson.