In addition to my main responsibilities as Director of New Covenant House (Toronto, Ontario), I serve as book reviews coordinator with ChristianWeek, a Canada-wide publication serving the Christian community. For quite some time I have been waiting to receive a review 
copy of Pagan Christianity (Frank Viola & George Barna, Tyndale House Publishers, 2008) – I have a reviewer lined up, but no copy to review!
Viola is a major figure in the contemporary house church movement and Barna is a well-known researcher and pollster specializing in American Christianity. These men have teamed up to explore the roots of the New Testament church, pondering why contemporary expressions of Christianity seem so far removed from the NT model. As one might expect from a house church leader, these men don’t have much good to say about the institutional church as we know it today.
Though I have not been able to secure a review for ChristianWeek, I did find an excellent critique of this book on Stephen Yuille’s blog. Following a brief overview of the authors’ thesis, Yuille presents a five-point challenge. Yuille’s treatment is, in my view, an excellent examination of a popular book that is flawed at its heart. I highly recommend you take time to read it.
David,
I have not read this book and thus have nothing to say directly towards its authors, but I am always a little suspicious when people began to compare the deeply flawed “present day” church to the “ideal” early church found in the NT.
Are we to strive to be more like Galatia? Corinth? The picture presented in Acts 2:42-47 is beautiful, but this same church seemed to have it’s own share of problems by Acts 6. I just wonder at times how much our conception of the “early church” is based more on an ideal than reality.
I know that as a pastor I am always feeling the tension between everything that I long for the church to be here and now and the reality of the “not yet” in our salvation.
Blessings,
Thad
Thad,
Like you, I am dubious about attempts to compare the 21st century (or any other one for that matter) church with the 1st century church.
Contemporary congregations have their fair share of difficulty, but as you note, the NT congregations also struggled – and they struggeld with the very same kinds of issues that face us today.
I linked to Stephen Yuille’s critique because I felt he did an excellent job at pointing out the significant weaknesses in the work of Viola and Barna.
Thanks for your comments.
Blessings,
David
I’ve read “Pagan” and thought it was insightful and right on target. It is controversial, but sometimes it’s necessary to shake things up a bit when the Body of Christ has veered off course. (Think Martin Luther).
Also, there are other reviews from journals, magazines and blogs at http://www.paganchristianity.org/reviews.htm.
I think we can sort out what is problematic in the New Testament churches from what the original design for church life was. God’s original thought is present in Paul’s teachings, and the presence of problems doesn’t nullify that fact. For example, the fact that the Corinthians were gorging themselves on the Lord’s Supper reveals that it was a complete meal and not a shot glass of juice and a stale cracker. The fact that people weren’t speaking in an orderly manner in the church meetings reveals the fact that more than just a pastor was intended to speak. If we’re honest we’ll have to admit that dismissing the New Testament church because it experienced problems isn’t a very good way to go about getting to the heart of the matter.
You might want to check out Viola’s new sequel to “Pagan”, called “Reimagining Church”. It picks up where “Pagan Christianity” left off and continues the conversation. (“Pagan Christianity” was never meant to be a stand alone book; it’s part one of the conversation.) “Reimagining Church” is endorsed by Leonard Sweet, Shane Claiborne, Alan Hirsch, and many others. You can read a sample chapter at http://www.ReimaginingChurch.org. It’s also available on Amazon.com. Frank is also blogging now at http://frankviola.wordpress.com/ .
Jill,
I agree that it is sometimes necessary to shake things up when the Body of Christ has veered off course. Whether it has veered off course in the way described by Viola (and Barna) is the point of the discussion here.
Neither Stephen Yuille, Thad or I are “dismissing the New Testament church because it experienced problems.” Our point, speaking for myself at least, is simply that the church depicted in the NT is not a perfect, ideal church. Like the contemporary church, it also had its problems.
But it is also important to note that the NT discussions about the church include such things as elders and deacons, including necessary character qualities needed to serve in one of those offices. It is impossible to read the NT corpus and come away with the view that there are no leaders and no organization.
Thank you for providing the link to Frank Viola’s blog.
Blessings,
David