PAGAN CHRISTIANITY

by

Frank Viola

Pagan Christianity was copyrighted in 2002 and published by Present Testimony Ministry (www.ptmin.org).  Frank Viola is a high school Psychology and Philosophy teacher.  In his spare time, he plants house churches, speaks at church-life conferences, and authors books on Christ and His church.  This is his third book on church life.  "Rethinking the Wineskin, The Practice of the New Testament Church" and "Who is Your Covering? A Fresh Look at Leadership, Authority, and Accountability" are the titles of his first two books.

The back cover contains these comments about the book.  "The origins of our modern Church practices.  An explosive treatment of the history of Church Traditions.  Have you ever wondered why we Christians do what we do for church every Sunday morning?   Have you ever asked yourself any of the following questions?  Why do we 'dress up' for church?  Why does the pastor preach a sermon every week?  Why do we have pulpits and pews?  Why do we have church buildings, steeples, choirs, and seminaries?  Where did these things come from?

This volume makes an outrageous proposal: that most of what we Christians do in our churches has no root in the New Testament!  It rather has its origin in pagan culture long after the death of the apostles.  As shocking as that sounds, Viola proves his point by documenting every claim he makes.  Fully footnoted, Pagan Christianity is the first book ever penned that documents the entire story of our modern church practices.

If you are a Christian who is content with status quo 'churchianity,' then you will not want to read beyond this cover.  This book is reserved for those who are ready to embark on an eye-opening venture that challenges every aspect of their church experience as well as offering a better alternative."

Frank Viola has done an excellent job of researching and documenting these practices which have been brought into our modern church thinking.  What he has described in this book will probably shock you to the core but it should also cause you to search the scriptures to see how "they did church" during the first century.  There are eleven chapter to this book.  Their titles, listed below, give a preview of the variety of subjects discussed. 

  1. The Order of Worship

  2. The Sermon

  3. The Church Building

  4. The Pastor

  5. Sunday Morning Costumes

  6. Ministers of Music

  7. 'Tithes Clergy Salaries

  8. Baptism and the Lord's Supper

  9. Christian Education

  10. A Second Glance at the Savior

  11. Reapproaching the New Testament

There is an appendix of six pages, containing a  summary of  the origins of our modern church practices.  It gives you a quick overview of where these practices originated and when they were brought into the modern church  scene.