Frank Viola has written a book…or rather I should say Frank Viola has written a book again. Pagan Christianity? was originally published in 2002 and has recently been repackaged and republished with a shiny new co-author – the well-respected Christian pollster George Barna and the addition of an enigmatic question mark.

The point of the book? Christianity has been steadily consumed and been consuming pagan culture since the end of the apostolic age in roughly 100 AD. Viola presents an incredibly well researched book packed into a scant 269 pages showing the pagan origins of virtually everything we call Christian today in the Protestant side of Christianity. There is little reason to question Viola as his research is probably footnoted better than any book I have ever read.

Throughout the book the sub-text is very clear – the church we know is not the church of Christ…this church was consumed by paganism 1,900 years ago and needs to be revived and reclaimed.

There are a few concerns with Viola’s premise. First he virtually dismisses the Old Testament as having anything to contribute to ecclesiology. The other problem is that after reading the book one is left with the bleak opinion that the Spirit of God abandoned the church after the apostles died and left it to corruption. This is a reasonable assumption because Viola leaves no room for the possibility that God has been at work and has possibly blessed at least a few traditions.

The solution is clear to Viola – return to the first century church – a communal, non-structured, home-based gathering of believers.

One would think it is a problem that Viola does not answer the key question – what’s to stop the slide from happening all over again? It’s not a problem because this re-printing is a huge setup for his next book due out in Summer 2008 – Reimagining Church…very convenient.

There are a few small annoyances throughout the text – for instance Viola loves to use exclamation marks!!!! As though everything he says is a staggering insight!!! I don’t think I’ve encountered so many exclamation marks in a single written work before!!! (Annoying isn’t it!).

The length to which the book goes to avoid promoting any form of leadership structure is interesting as well. In the author bio on the back cover inside flap Viola is described not as a leader but rather as an "influential voice" in the emerging house church movement.

A tad self-righteous and cynical Viola nevertheless presents a very helpful and informative text that definitely challenges the church to take a long hard look at herself and her heritage because a lot of what she is doing is possibly not Christ honoring.

I would recommend the book as a reference text in corrective church history as well as a useful pointer for deeper study. Like many perspectives Viola’s may be at one extreme end of the ecclessiological spectrum with the institutional church at the other and the place we need to be is more likely in the middle somewhere.