Monday, April 28, 2008
Talk About Outside The Box
Out of Ur blog looks ta a book called "Pagan Christianity" Doesn't like it much.
I think what we have here is a pretty good diagnosis, but an attempt to cure the illness by killing the patient. The institutions of our faith, inclusive of the professional clergy are indeed warped, in large part, into something that is decidedly unGodly and ugly. But that does not change the fact that while they are indeed at variance with the operations of the first century church, they have evolved with good reason and in a fashion that is in line with scripture. They, like most everything else, have been tainted by sin.
The key question is what do we do about this. Just a few comments in no particular order. For one thing, the corruption of the institutions is as much a fact of sin in the congregation as it is sin in the clergy. The congregants are called to keep the clergy accountable. The church has indeed devolved into a two-tiered class structure, but that is as much a product of laziness amongst the pews as it is lordliness in the pulpit.
Secondly, the Reformers were indeed reformers, not revolutionaries. Luther, Calvin, and the rest never wanted to break away from the mother church, they just wanted to fix her. They had separateness thrust upon them. That indeed can and does happen often today, but never separate willfully.
The best way to fix this problem is to become the right kind of clergy.
Think about it.
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I appreciate it when a writer shows all his cards at the beginning of a book so I don't have to guess at his presuppositions. Frank Viola does just that in the opening line of his newly re-released Pagan Christianity: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices (Barna, 2008). He starts like this: "Not long after I left the institutional church to begin gathering with Christians in New Testament fashion…" You can imagine the tone of the pages that follow.I am no fan of the institutional church, but I will not go so far as to call it "pagan." I will; however, call it corrupt. Not having read this book, everything I say from this point forward must be understood to not be addressing the book or its arguments. However, the intellectual path described by the reviewer is one that I have traveled for the last 30 years, so I feel that I am capable of entering this discussion.
Viola argues in his preface that the "practices of the first-century church were the natural and spontaneous expression" of believers indwelt by the Holy Spirit that were "solidly grounded in timeless principles and teachings of the New Testament." Regrettably, he maintains, most practices of contemporary churches—including everything from having a professional pastor to meeting in a church building—are at odds with New Testament teachings.
[...]
As angry and disillusioned as I was about institutional church six years ago, I would have enthusiastically digested Pagan Christianity in 2002 had it made waves big enough to reach me in Arkansas. With Barna's help, the splash it makes in 2008 may be considerably larger. Add to the new endorsement the growing unease with institutions in general, and Pagan Christianity, with its angst and pseudo-academic format, may just find a market this time around. I’m no longer sure that's a good thing.
I think what we have here is a pretty good diagnosis, but an attempt to cure the illness by killing the patient. The institutions of our faith, inclusive of the professional clergy are indeed warped, in large part, into something that is decidedly unGodly and ugly. But that does not change the fact that while they are indeed at variance with the operations of the first century church, they have evolved with good reason and in a fashion that is in line with scripture. They, like most everything else, have been tainted by sin.
The key question is what do we do about this. Just a few comments in no particular order. For one thing, the corruption of the institutions is as much a fact of sin in the congregation as it is sin in the clergy. The congregants are called to keep the clergy accountable. The church has indeed devolved into a two-tiered class structure, but that is as much a product of laziness amongst the pews as it is lordliness in the pulpit.
Secondly, the Reformers were indeed reformers, not revolutionaries. Luther, Calvin, and the rest never wanted to break away from the mother church, they just wanted to fix her. They had separateness thrust upon them. That indeed can and does happen often today, but never separate willfully.
The best way to fix this problem is to become the right kind of clergy.
Think about it.
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