OK - I just ordered Pagan Christianity by George Barna and Frank Viola. A friend told me about the book this week. Then, I just saw Greg Boyd's comment on it. Then, I went to amazon.com and saw a lot of comments from people I respect praising the book.
Greg says: "Viola, F. and G. Barna, Pagan Christianity (Tyndale 2008) is the best single source I know of that exposes how thoroughly pagan the traditional and contemporary understanding of the church is. Viola and Barna argue — rightly — that the passivity and impotence of the church today is largely due to this fact. Viola and Barna call us back to a New Testament understanding of church that is rooted in authentic communities in which believers share life and engage in ministry together."
3 comments:
Hello John,
Ben Witherington has a thorough,and lengthy, review of this book in his blog archives.I had a lot of questions about the early church after reding "Pagan Chrsitianity" that Ben answers. I am looking foward to reading your comments.
Shalom.
Phil
Hi Phil - I've seen the link to the Viola/Witherington dialogue. I'll read it after reading the book.
Thanks, and blessings!
John
The sequel to “Pagan Christianity?” is out now. It’s 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://www.frankviola.wordpress.com .
Also, for a look at the purpose and vision behind these books, check out Viola's brand new book, "From Eternity to Here" at http://www.frometernitytohere.org .
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