A Response to “Pagan Christianity?”
3.2 Chapter 1 Review – Have We Really Been Doing It by the Book?
The first chapter of the book begins with a satirical sketch, in which a bored, hypocritical churchgoer listens to a sermon, where his pastor preaches on “doing everything by the sacred Book.” The churchgoer begins to question whether it is true that his church does everything according to the Bible. Is dressing up to go to church is in the Bible? What about church buildings? Are Christians obligated to sit through a “predictable, yawn-inspiring ritual every Sunday”?[1] Viola and Barna approve of this line of thought. The answer that they give is that “…almost everything that is done in our contemporary churches has no basis in the Bible” which is an utterly absurd and slanderous allegation. Almost everything? We need to recall the distinction between the elements of worship, on which we must be strictly and uncompromisingly biblical (because positively commanded by God), and the circumstances in which those elements are carried out, where there is freedom. When Christians claim to be doing things “by the book”, they are most certainly not making the claim that circumstantial matters like their dress habits and where the church meets are based on positive biblical commandments. Rather, when we do things, “by the book” it means we are adhering to all the biblically prescribed elements of worship, and that the circumstances of that worship are governed by broader biblical principles and Christian wisdom. I absolutely deny that any of the elements, let alone most of them, in a standard Reformed Baptist worship service have no basis in Scripture. But Viola and Barna seem entirely ignorant of these distinctions, and virtually all of the examples of “unbiblical practices” given in in the book only concern what would traditionally be considered circumstances of worship. And on those matters, it is absurd to complain that what we are doing is “unbiblical” because, by definition, circumstances are things on which Scripture has not given us explicit instructions. Literally any circumstances we chose would be “unbiblical” in this sense.
Once again, the most substantial content in this chapter is found in the brief “Delving Deeper” section at the end. This is where Viola and Barna outline their understanding of what a New Testament church looked like. We will consider these points where relevant in responding to each chapter. At this stage, I just want to observe that the whole argument of the book rests on these claims about the nature of New Testament church meetings. In virtually every chapter, we will find the argument eventually boils down to something of this form:
(1) The modern church does [X] because [historical argument].
(2) The first-century church did [Y].
(3) [Y] is normative for the church.
(4) [X] is inconsistent with [Y].
(5) Therefore, the modern church should not do [X] and do [Y] instead.
Perhaps the most frustrating flaw of the book is that it never attempts to offer any detailed, exegetical argumentation in favour of premises (2) through (4): these are usually just asserted. After outlining their understanding of early church practices and giving a few proof texts, the authors write, “Offering a biblical basis for these practices and explaining why they should be emulated today is beyond the scope of the book.” Apparently, we have to buy a second book![2] But it seems to me that refusing to defend the most fundamental and controversial premises in your main argument, in the book designed to promote that argument, is not a good strategy.
[1] By which he means the worship service. Viola and Barna are unrelenting in their snide insults toward traditional Christian practices. I could respect their argument much more if it were coming from a place of respectful disagreement, borne out of biblical conviction (even if mistaken). But what’s clear on every page is they just genuinely hate the ordinary means of grace.
[2] The sequel, Reimagining Church, supposedly covers these arguments “comprehensively”.
Next Section: 3.3 Chapter 2 Review – The Church Building: Inheriting the Edifice Complex
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