This evocative title put Viola’s expertise in church history on the grid. Viola teamed up with research heavy-weight George Barna to create a formidable, devastating, prophetically written tour de force on ecclesiology. From the jolting opening to the challenging ending, it is a bittersweet, compelling, and dramatic progression of historical and challenging content. Like it or lump it, you’ll be able to’t read it and remain settled. This book sparked a revolution that set the stage for Viola’s other groundbreaking works, establishing him as a voice that couldn’t be ignored. Pagan Christianity is a milestone of raw passion and energy.

Christian Book Reviews

Are we actually doing church “by the Book”?

Why does the pastor preach a sermon at every service?
 
Why do church products and services seem so similar week after week?
 
Why does the congregation take a seat passively in pews?
 
Not sure? This book makes an unsettling proposal: Most of what present-day Christians do in church each Sunday is rooted, not in the New Testament, but in pagan culture and rituals developed long after the death of the apostles. 
 
Authors Frank Viola and George Barna reinforce their thesis with compelling historical evidence and extensive footnotes that document the origins of our modern Christian church practices.

In the process, the authors uncover the problems that emerge when the church functions more like a business organization than the living organism it was once created to be.
 
As you reconsider Christ’s revolutionary plan for His church―to be the head of a fully functioning body in which all believers play an active role―you’ll be able to be challenged to come to a decision whether you’ll be able to ever do church the same way again.