by Joshua Arthur | Feb 16, 2024 | Articles
A Response to “Pagan Christianity?” 3.6 Chapter 5 Review – The Pastor: Obstacle to Every-Member Functioning Viola and Barna are particularly fixated on the necessity of what they call “every-member functioning”, by which they mean that every...
by Joshua Arthur | Feb 16, 2024 | Articles
A Response to “Pagan Christianity?” 3.5 Chapter 4 Review – The Sermon: Protestantism’s Most Sacred Cow Viola and Barna next direct their vitriol toward the “modern sermon”, which they rightly recognise to be the central element of the...
by Joshua Arthur | Feb 16, 2024 | Articles
A Response to “Pagan Christianity?” 3.4 Chapter 3 Review – Sunday Mornings Set in Concrete Viola and Barna next consider the liturgy of the church, or the order of service. This, they call “mechanical and predictable”, in contrast to what they...
by Joshua Arthur | Feb 16, 2024 | Articles
A Response to “Pagan Christianity?” 3.3 Chapter 2 Review – The Church Building: Inheriting the Edifice Complex In the second chapter, the authors take aim at the church building. From the perspective of the regulative principle, the particular...
by Joshua Arthur | Feb 16, 2024 | Articles
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...
by Joshua Arthur | Feb 16, 2024 | Articles
A Response to “Pagan Christianity?” 3. Chapter-by-Chapter Response 3.1 Preface and Introduction Review Pagan Christianity begins with a preface from the main author, Frank Viola. Viola states his major premises from the start. First, he believes...