The reactions to the book Pagan Christianity have been heated, both by those who love the book and those who don’t.
About this book, Alan Hirsch said, “Just don’t drop it - it is likely to explode.”
I plan on devoting the next 2 weeks of posts on my blog to Pagan Christianity. I am in the process of reading it and will post throughout my reading of the book. At the end, I will post a review with my personal conclusions.
There are 9 specific church practices which are addressed in the book - buildings, the church service, sermons, pastors, church clothes, worship music, tithing, sacraments, and seminary - something for everyone. I will have a post for each of these topics where we can discuss whether they are inherently evil, absolutely necessary, or maybe just neutral.
I will try to provide enough of a framework to start the discussion. Feel free to drop by and join the discussion on any of the topics regardless of whether you have read the book. The comments are open to all viewpoints, but let’s keep the tone respectful. I will not be responding to the comments during this series.
Let the games begin!
Index of posts:
- To Be or Not To Be
- Why We Do What We Do
- Here’s The Church, Here’s The Steeple
- The Sunday Morning Service
- When You Come Together, Each One Has a Sermon
- Holy Joe
- Sunday Best
- Music In Church
- Show Me The Money
- Water, Bread, and Wine
- The Intellect and Spiritual Formation
- Wrapping It Up
- Pagan Christianity: A Proper Review
5 responses so far ↓
Eric G. // January 6, 2008 at 4:46 pm
Grace,
I don’t have the book. I do have the earlier version and may try to read through it as you post.
Should be fun…
Eric
grace // January 6, 2008 at 5:56 pm
Eric,
I don’t believe there are major differences in the content. Barna has added an introduction and possibly the concluding remarks have been updated. Also, there are now discussion questions at the end of each chapter. I didn’t read the original. In fact, at the time it came out, I probably would have completely dismissed it. However, my journey has since taken some interesting twists and turns.
andrewtatum // January 8, 2008 at 10:17 am
Looking forward to your writing on this book. I’m a little unclear, however, as to whether this is a revamped version of the first book or an entirely new book altogether. I’ve read and enjoyed the first volume although a few of my friends (one of which happens to be a professor of historical theology) tell me that many of his claims are bogus. And I do understand that history is often quite subjective so I’m keeping an open mind still. I keep a few of Viola’s books handy at all times so it’s not an understatement to say that I’m quite partial to his work and am thrilled to know of his collaboration with George Barna. At any rate, I’m looking forward to it. Peace, Andrew
The Liminal Problem « Missio Dei // January 20, 2008 at 8:53 pm
[...] quite a stir with the re-release of Pagan Christianity. For those who are reading it, Grace has a lengthy breakdown that is an excellent summary of the points in the book. She too highlights some of the comments and [...]
The Liminal Problem | Best Web Sermons // January 21, 2008 at 12:34 pm
[...] quite a stir with the re-release of Pagan Christianity. For those who are reading it, Grace has a lengthy breakdown that is an excellent summary of the points in the book. She too highlights some of the comments and [...]
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