Book Discussion: Pagan Christianity

[Amanah]

Viola, Frank
Pagan Christianity? : exploring the roots of our church practices/Frank Viola and George Barna. Tyndale, 2002, 2008


I'm going to be commenting on the above book. I'll be making posts on the book as I read it. This first post covers a few thoughts from Chapter 2 of the book.

Chapter 2 of Pagan Christianity points out on pages 10-11 that :

"Ancient Judaism was centered on three elements: the Temple, the priesthood, and the sacrifice. When Jesus came, He ended all three, fulfilling them in Himself. He is the temple who embodies a new and living house . . . He is the priest . . . and He is the perfect and finished sacrifice."

"In Greco-Roman paganism, these three elements were also present: Pagans had their temples, their priests, and their sacrifices. It was only the Christians who did away with all of these elements."

The point being made in Chapter two is that when Constantine became Emperor of Rome, He reintroduced pagan aspects into Christianity: temples, priests, relics, worship of the dead, and sacred spaces.

In Christianity there were to be no sacred spaces. People are to be the temple of the Lord. Constantine introduced the idea of the holy site. Most of the churches he built were built on the tombs of dead saints as he incorporated worship of the dead into the Christian faith. He created temples that copied pagan religious systems and reintroduced the concept of temples, priests, and sacred spaces.

"Almost to the dying day, Constantine 'still functioned as the high priest of pagansim.' In fact, he retained the pagan title Pontifex Maximum, which means chief of the pagan priests." The same title used for the Pope today. (Viola 19)

When Constantine structured the church around pagan practices that make the building a sacred space, and the priests the focal point of the service, Christians were robbed of their true identity in Christ and turned into spectators of a religious ritual.

I'll comment more as I read more.