Pagan Christianity

By: Frank Viola

Narrated by: Lloyd James

Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

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. Many Christians take for granted that their churchs practices are rooted in Scripture. Yet those practices look very different from those of the first-century church. The New Testament is not silent on how the early church freely expressed the reality of Christs indwelling in ways that rocked the first-century world.Times have changed.

Pagan Christianity leads us on a fascinating tour through church history, revealing this startling and unsettling truth: Many cherished church traditions embraced today originated not out of the New Testament, but out of pagan practices. One of the most troubling outcomes has been the effect on average believers: turning them from living expressions of Christs glory and power to passive observers. If you want to see that trend reversed, turn to Pagan Christianity...a book that examines and challenges every aspect of our contemporary church experience.

©2008 Frank Viola and George Barna (P)2008 christianaudio.com

it will wreck you

I can't count the number of times I have re-read this (or listened if you prefer) and Viola's other related works: Reimagining Church, From Eternity to Here, Finding Organic Church, The Untold Story of the New Testament Church, and Jesus Manifesto. Each one will challenge you to test what you have been doing in institutional religion in a way that will wreck you. I had to set it aside several times before I gained the strength and guidance of other believers around me to start making my move toward organic. We have a long way to go, and still have a lot of unanswered questions, but we are starting to see the fruit of our prayers.

An overdue acclaim

It is no wonder that most of us have never heard about this courageous and commendable work! This is the voice crying in the wilderness! But it is a threat evangelical Christian world would be threatened by it so no doubt it’s not in the church bookstores. Everything your intuition has hinted as one who loves Christ will be affirmed by this book.
It contains profound truth, profoundly stated. No sentence is wasted. Give it your full attention.

Read with reservation, and an open mind...

I am personally thrilled that things I've suspected, noticed and have felt about church for the longest time have been validated through this book. I really enjoyed the historical aspect of it, and the reasons we do everything. Personally, I feel like he got off on a tangent a bit with respect to tithing and baptism... but his points were very valid. I've listened to this book with an open mind, but I don't think I'm ready to run out and never go to church again, as my dad was afraid I'd do. My dad was also very threatened by a lot of the ideas in this book. However, I agree with a lot of what he says. I say to read with reservation because I always have my radar out when reading/listening to any book that professes to be Christian, and I think all Christians need to be wary. But I also kept an open mind to hear some things that might be disturbing. Now that I've read it, I have no idea what to do with the information I have. I am intrigued enough, though, to read some of his other books and am currently beginning re-imagining church.

Totally Life Changing!

This message has the potential to be totally life changing! I only hope that I and others will actually be doers of the Word and not hearers only and thus be the church instead of just going to church.

highly recommend very biblical accurate

absolutely the best book on church history ever
I would recommend this book to every single believer

Church History was great. His conclusions???

I am a 3rd generation pastor. My grandfather and father both were pastors of traditional churches, each dedicating over 60 years in their role as pastors, myself for over 30 years. I have a deep knowledge of behind the scenes of Christian churches, and I can say I've seen God do great things in traditional churches. While he makes many good points of the pagan origins of what churches do on Sunday, he failed to acknowledge that God uses broken people, broken organizations to do His will all throughout Biblical history. God has never waited for the perfect setup, or even the best method or setup to accomplish His will, but instead has always chosen to do His will in the chaos humanity creates for itself. While God has given clear direction for His people, and humanity has always failed to live up to that standard, it has never hindered God. While I am not disputing the accuracy of many of his criticisms, I personally believe more could be said of the good God has done with the traditional church. I have seen first hand what a pastor can do to help bring Christians closer to Christ. I've seen this over and over, repeated many times. To argue from the negative, that pastors as we know it in the traditional church don't exist in the Bible is a weak argument, arguing from the lack of something is always a poor method to prove a point. And I whole hardly disagree with him that pastors existence has done more harm then good, he clearly has never witnessed what I have, the great work God did through my father and grandfather, the lives changed and improved from their efforts. Are churches today in America messed up, yup, something needs to change. But to lay all the blame on the traditional church is very unscriptural, it misses the core of the Bibles teachings, that the heart of man is deceitful and above all things desperately wicked. It is the hearts of humanity that is the core of the problems with the Christian church today. While he tries to make it sound that the church as we know it is mostly to blame, he fails to bring everyone back to the real problem, hearts that wont hear God. Whether it's a house church filled with people who wont hear God or a traditional church, the problem is the same. Until people's hearts are turned towards God the house church movement will simply end up in the same place as the traditional church. In the end I felt this book simply repeats the same pattern I have heard from the traditional church. We have a better method, it's more scriptural, we understand what God wants better than you because we are closer to the original church of the apostolic times. He clearly should have ended his book stating that everyone who hears God's direction to serve Him should follow that leading, if it's a traditional church, praise God, serve God with all your heart there, if it's a house church praise God, serve God there, but in the end it is God who will do His good pleasure, regardless of the method. God's hands will never be tied regardless of the method. Quoting the Apostle Paul in Philippians 1:15 Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from good will: 16 The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains; 17 but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. 18 What then? Only [that] in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice.

A Must for everyone the hear !

Where does Pagan Christianity rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Near the top.

What other book might you compare Pagan Christianity to and why?

Its in a class all by itself.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

Less momotone and more inflection.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

What happens when one turns family into a business.

Any additional comments?

Great listen for all who seek to know the reason the church seems so disconnected from her roots.

Life changing for this "pastor" couple

We have been pastoring for 14 years and struggling with all the issues touched on in this book.
This book confirms so much of what we have just "felt" through the years.
We are at a very big, serious crossroads in our lives right now. deciding what to do from here.

We want to be real Christ followers. We want to rid ourselves of the dead pagan traditions.

This work gives voice to what we already know....

This work gives voice to what we already know to be true regarding organized church.

Awesome book. I recommend this book for all!

This book is well worth the time to listen to if you have ever had your doubts about how today's "churches" are doing things.