"A Church Too Smart By Half" - a review

That's the conclusion I've come to after reading "Pagan Christianity?" by Frank Viola and George Barna. I'm sure there's a place in the world for theologians in their halls of christian academia, but Viola/Barna make a sound case that the institutional church has become too smart for its own good, relying more upon its own cleverness rather than God's spirit to change the world. To quote the book: "Pragmatism is unspiritual, not just because it encourages ethical considerations to be secondary, but because it depends on techniques rather than God to produce the desired effects...Pragmatism is harmful because it teaches 'the end justifies the means'..."
In a world in which Voltaire's perfect is the enemy of the good, it's God's spirit that reminds us that even the good can be the enemy of His perfect.

The pragmatism point is something I've touched on before, and it's something which continues to concern me about the church experience. It's infiltrated the modern church and as Viola/Barna quote Will Durant in their book, "While Christianity converted the world; the world converted Christianity, and displayed the natural paganism of mankind." There was a time when my church experience was good, and I long for the days of real koinonia fellowship. I haven't had that experience in some time and I've grown increasingly weary of the way church is done. This book provided some substance to my intuitive dissatisfaction.

Before getting very deep into the book one realizes that the contemporary, Western church wouldn't be recognizable to a first century believer. They might even be skeptical of it by recognizable parallels to pagan practices. Church buildings, steeples, seating arrangements, pulpits, clothing, etc. all have pagan influence and origins. And Viola/Barna takes no prisoners among pastors, preachers, priests, youth leaders, worship leaders or even church secretaries. Name any person of responsibility in an institutional church and there's no biblical reason for their position of office. Consider this book a complete deconstruction of every familiar church convention. Better to forget everything you know about church and start from Biblical scratch.

The read is easy, but the footnotes are extensive enough to slow things down considerably. It takes time to follow scriptural support of a point made but it's worth it. It's almost mind boggling how thoroughly they make and support their contentions. Though I don't agree with every argument made, the thrust of their position on the modern church experience is one all Christians should consider.

As they recommend, George Barna's "Revolution" makes a good prequel to Pagan as it reveals church trends which seem to underscore Viola's church concept. The curious thing is that each book was written without the other in mind. I recommend both. I'm also looking forward to reading the follow-up called "Reimagining Church" which answers the "Now what?" question following the deconstructive "Pagan Christianity?"