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Pagan Christianity?: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices | 
 enlarge | Authors: Frank Viola, George Barna
Publisher: BarnaBooks
Category: Book
List Price: $17.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  189 reviews
Sales Rank: 2345
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.6 x 1.2
ISBN: 141431485X
Dewey Decimal Number: 262.0017
EAN: 9781414314853
ASIN: 141431485X
Publication Date: January 2008
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Product Description
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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 184 more reviews...
 Viola and Barna got it right! September 5, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
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 September 3, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
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! September 2, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
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 August 22, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
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!
 The author means well but the book is flawed August 21, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
There are many good and strong points in this book a few of which are
1.Many Christian practices come from paganism
2.The Apostles belonged to no set church
3.Churches are actually modeled on pagan temples
And many others
4. The Romans used already established Pagan holidays as Christian ones
5. Mega churches are in effect dumbing down Christianity confusing the need of people for a close and personal relationship with God by offering them entertainment.
The author spends too much of his time describing in great detail what is wrong with the established church and really providing no clear goal or agenda on how to fix those problems. When you cite a list of things that are problems according to your own point and not based on any particular scriptural guidelines then eventually your argument however well intentioned is going to fall apart.
Organized Christianity may in many respects be a flawed creation but it's the only one we've got. The author means well but he has in effect thrown the baby out with the bathwater.
Overall-It is impossible as the author maintains to "get back to the roots" of Christianity because Christians can't even agree on what those roots were and speaking for myself my alarm bells go off when I hear people talking about it. The important thing is Christ the Lord not weather or not churches or church organizations have some creeping vestiges of Paganism regardless of weather or not you think it's the Sabbath day or the vestments or the incense or the liturgy or baptism. The victory is already won in Jesus Christ what does it matter?
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