Viola, Frank and George Barna. Pagan
Christianity: Exploring the roots of our church practices.
Tyndale, 2008. xxxiii+291 pp. ISBN-10 1-4143-1485-X. ISBN-13 978-1-4143-1485-X.
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SUMMARY OF ORIGINS
"What
history teaches us is that men have never learned anything from it." —
G. W. F. HEGEL, NINETEENTH-CENTURY GERMAN PHILOSOPHER
The following summary is neither complete nor
detailed. Note that all of the practices covered are post-biblical,
post-apostolic, and mostly influenced by pagan culture.
CHAPTER 2:
THE CHURCH BUILDING
The Church Building — First
constructed under Constantine around AD 327. The earliest church buildings were
patterned after the Roman basilicas, which were modeled after Greek temples.
The Sacred Space — Christians borrowed
this idea from the pagans in the second and third centuries. The burial places
of the martyrs were regarded as "sacred." In the fourth century,
church buildings were erected on these burial places, thus creating
"sacred" buildings.
The Pastor's
Chair Derived from the cathedra, which was the bishop's chair or throne. This
chair replaced the seat of the judge in the Roman basilica.
Tax-Exempt Status for Churches and Christian
Clergy — Emperor Constantine gave churches tax-exempt status in AD 323.
He made clergy exempt from paying taxes in AD 313, a privilege that pagan
priests enjoyed.
Stained-Glass Windows — First
introduced by Gregory of Tours and brought to perfection by Suger (1081-1151),
abbot of St. Denis.
Gothic Cathedrals —
Twelfth century. These edifices were built according to the pagan philosophy of
Plato.
The Steeple — Rooted in ancient
Babylonian and Egyptian architecture and philosophy, the steeple was a medieval
invention that was popularized and modernized by Sir Christopher Wren in London
around 1666.
The Pulpit — Used in the Christian church
as early as AD 250. It came from the Greek ambo, which was a pulpit used by
both Greeks and Jews for delivering monologues.
CHAPTER 3: THE ORDER OF WORSHIP
The Sunday Morning Order of Worship —
Evolved from Gregory's Mass in the sixth century and the revisions made by
Luther, Calvin, the Puritans, the Free Church tradition, the Methodists, the
Frontier-Revivalists, and the Pentecostals.
The Pew — Evolved from the thirteenth
through the eighteenth centuries in England.
The Centrality of
the Pulpit in the Order of Worship —
Martin Luther in 152 3.
Two Candles
Placed on Top of the "Communion Table" and Incense
Burning —
Candles were used in the ceremonial court of Roman emperors in the fourth
century. The Communion table was introduced by Ulrich Zwingli in the sixteenth
century.
Taking the Lord's Supper Quarterly —
Ulrich Zwingli in the sixteenth century.
The Congregation Standing and Singing When the
Clergy Enters — Borrowed from the ceremonial court of Roman
emperors in the fourth century. Brought into the Protestant liturgy by John
Calvin.
Coming to Church with a Somber/Reverent Attitude — Based
on the medieval view of piety. Brought into the Protestant service by John
Calvin and Martin Bucer.
Condemnation and Guilt over Missing a Sunday
Service — Seventeenth-century New England Puritans.
The Long "Pastoral Prayer" Preceding the
Sermon — Seventeenth-century Puritans.
The Pastoral Prayer Uttered in Elizabethan English —
Eighteenth-century Methodists.
The Goal of All Preaching to Win Individual Souls — Eighteenth-century Frontier Revivalists.
The Altar
Call — Instituted by
seventeenth-century Methodists and
popularized by Charles Finney.
The Church Bulletin (written liturgy) —
Originated in 1884 with Albert Blake Dick's stencil duplicating machine.
The "Solo"
Salvation Hymn, Door-to-Door
Witnessing, and Evangelistic Advertising Campaigning — D. L.
Moody.
The Decision Card —
Invented by Absalom B. Earle (1812-1895) and popularized by
Bowing Heads
with Eyes Closed and Raising the Hand in Response to a Salvation Message — Billy
Graham in the twentieth century.
"The
Evangelization of the World in One Generation" Slogan — John
Mott around 1888.
Solo or
Choral Music Played
during the Offering — Twentieth-century Pentecostals.
CHAPTER 4:
THE SERMON
The Contemporary Sermon —
Borrowed from the Greek sophists, who were masters at oratory and rhetoric.
John Chrysostom and Augustine popularized the Greco-Roman homily (sermon) and
made it a central part of the Christian faith.
The One-Hour Sermon, Sermon Crib Notes, and the
Four-Part Sermon Outline — Seventeenth-century Puritans.
CHAPTER 5:
THE PASTOR
The Single Bishop (predecessor of the contemporary pastor} — Ignatius of
.Antioch in early second century. Ignatius's model of one-bishop rule did not
prevail in the churches until the third century.
The "Covering" Doctrine —
Cyprian of Carthave, a former payan orator. Revived under Juan Carlos Ortiz
from Argentina and the "Fort Lauderdale Five" from the United States,
creating the so-called "Shepherding-Discipleship Movement" in the
1970s.
Hierarchical Leadership — Brought into the church by
Constantine in the fourth century. This was the leadership style of the
Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans.
Clergy and Laity — The
word laity first appears in the writings of Clement of Rome (d. 100). Clergy
first appears in Tertullian. By the third century, Christian leaders were
universally called clergy.
Contemporary Ordination —
Evolved from the second century to the fourth. It was taken from the Roman
custom of appointing men to civil office. The idea of the ordained minister as
the "holy man of God" can be traced to Augustine, Gregory of Nazianzus
and
Chrysostom.
The Title "Pastor" — Catholic
priests who became Protestant ministers were not universally called pastors
until the eighteenth century under the influence of Lutheran Pietists.
CHAPTER 6:
SUNDAY MORNING COSTUMES
Christians Wearing Their "Sunday Best"
for Church — Began in the late-eighteenth century with the
Industrial Revolution and became widespread in the mid-nineteenth century. The
practice is rooted in the emerging middle-class effort to become like their
wealthy aristocrat contemporaries.
Clergy Attire — Began in AD 330 when
Christian clergy started wearing the garb of Roman officials. By the twelfth
century, the clergy began wearing everyday street clothes that distinguished
them from the people.
The Evangelical Pastor's Suit — A descendant of the black
scholar's gown worn by Reformation ministers, the black lounge suit of the
twentieth century became the typical costume of the contemporary pastor.
The Clerical (Backwards) Collar —
Invented by Rev. Dr. Donald McLeod of Glasgow in 1865.
CHAPTER 7:
MINISTERS OF MUSIC
The Choir — Provoked by
Constantine's desire to mimic the professional music used in Roman imperial
ceremonies. In the fourth century, the Christians borrowed the choir idea from
the choirs used in Greek dramas and Greek temples.
The Boys Choir — Began in the fourth century, borrowed from the boys
choirs used by the pagans.
Funeral Processions and Orations —
Borrowed from Greco-Roman paganism in the third century.
The Worship Team — Calvary Chapel in
1965, patterned after the secular rock concert.
CHAPTER 8:
TITHING AND CLERGY SALARIES
Tithing — Did not become a widespread
Christian practice until the eighth century. The tithe was taken from the 10
percent rent charge used in the Roman Empire and later justified using the Old
Testament.
Clergy Salaries — Instituted by
Constantine in the fourth century.
The Collection Plate — The
alms dish appeared in the fourteenth century: Passing a collection plate began
in 1662.
The Usher
— Began with Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603). The predecessor
of the usher is the church porter, a position that can be traced back to the
third century.
CHAPTER 9:
BAPTISM AND THE LORD'S SUPPER
Infant Baptism — Rooted in the superstitious beliefs that pervaded
the Greco-Roman culture, it was brought into the Christian faith in the late second
century. By the fifth century, it replaced adult baptism.
Sprinkling
Replacing Immersion — Began in the late Middle Ages in the Western
churches.
Baptism Separated from Conversion — Began
in the early second century as a result of the legalistic view that baptism was
the only medium for the forgiveness of sins.
The "Sinner's Prayer" —
Originated with D. L. Moody and made popular in the 1950s through Billy
Graham's Peace with God tract and
later with Campus Crusade for Christ's Four
Spiritual Laws.
Use of the Term
"Personal Savior" — Spawned in the mid-1800s by the
Frontier-Revivalist influence and popularized by Charles Fuller (1887-1968).
The
Lord's Supper Condensed from a Full "Agape"
Meal to Only the
Cup and the Bread — The late second century as a result of pagan ritual
influences.
CHAPTER 10:
CHRISTIAN EDUCATION
The Catholic Seminary — The
first seminary began as a result of the Council of Trent (1545-1563). The
curriculum was based on the teachings of Thomas Aquinas, which was a blending
of Aristotle's philosophy, Neoplatonic philosophy, and Christian doctrine.
The Protestant Seminary — Began
in Andover, Massachusetts, in 1808. Its curriculum, too, was built on the
teachings of Thomas Aquinas.
The Bible College —
Influenced by the revivalism of D. L. Moody, the first two Bible colleges were
the Missionary Training Institute (Nyack College, New York) in 1882 and Moody
Bible Institute (Chicago) in 1886.
The Sunday School —
Created by Robert Raikes from Britain in 1780. Raikes did not found the Sunday
school for the purpose of religious instruction. He founded it to teach poor
children the basics of education.
The Youth Pastor — Developed in urban churches in
the late 1930s and 1940s as a result of seeking to meet the needs of a new
sociological class called "teenagers."
CHAPTER 11:
REAPPROACHING THE NEW TESTAMENT
Paul's Letters Combined into a Canon and Arranged
according to Descending Length Early second
century.
Chapter Numbers Placed in the New Testament —
University of Paris professor Stephen Langton in 1227.
Verses Added to New Testament Chapters —
Printer Robert Stephanus in 1551.