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rapturefish -> RE: Has anyone read "Pagan Christianity?" (6/25/2008 12:09:28 PM)
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I've read the book and it's a real firecracker to a lot of the biggest things we've come to expect with church - the church building, the role of the pastor, the place of worship and especially (for me anyway), the use of scripture and the order of the letters of Paul as well the New Testament in the bible!
Having been through the wringer with churches and currently on the edge of my current church (that is, not being involved but maintaining a distance while I recover) reading this book has been timely - I don't think I could've read it in the past before all the disenchantment with church because I would've been too close to the church and holding onto it too tightly. But now, when I read it so much of it makes sense, it's all falling into place as subconscious suspicions I've had of the church at large finally find themselves in print.
It's started me on a journey to question everything the church is now and how different it is from the first-century church, and what should work now. I'm reading books like "Organic Church" by Neil Cole and "Organic Community" by Joseph Myers and finding a whole different paradigm through which to look at church, one that starts rather simply and on a micro level as opposed to the hierarchical church institution.
"Pagan Christianity?" is not easy to read if you love church as you know it, which is not the same as loving God (a distinction that's very easy to miss). But finally I can see why I find that old heritage-listed sandstone building irks me, along with the pews and the distant, formal nature of a church service. I see why so many fail to get active with the church, the 20% are doing so in spite of a system that encourages passivity. I can hide in churches like those, and the bigger it is the better for hiding. But to do church the way of the 1st century is a soulsearch too - you are asked to be involved as all people are, and you cannot hide.
The theses put forth are bold and no cautious language or academic passivities are there to soften things - which I find so refreshing in an age where inoffensiveness and PC language dominate. You may disagree, but you never doubt that a clear view has been put on the table for discussion and response.
I loved the books and I think everyone should read them and discuss the material with each other. If it offends or sounds too blunt, be assured, behind it all the authors care for and are passionate about the church. If a lot of the church is practising things that run contrary to the spirit and the intention of what God had in mind, then reformation is not only a good idea but an imperative for survival.
I don't love this book as a bitter church-hurt christian but as one who has had to think a lot about what church is in light of a small number of bad church experiences. I don't wish to flame the church but I certainly don't believe the church is at all healthy and in danger of going under. How many good people have been hurt by church and left out, while others continue to do church in ways that keep people out rather than invite them in?
Read it, be blown away and offended. Then, after a time of contemplation discuss it with those you know well. Examine anew what you do at church and what the ideas behind how done for the church or against it.
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