Book Review of The Untold Story of the New Testament Church by Frank Viola

About the Bible and the Glasses you Bring to Read the Bible

Frank Viola is a strong voice in the area of Organic Church and is perhaps best known for his book, Pagan Christianity. Many don’t realize however, that Pagan Christianity?: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices is just one book in a complete series that Frank has put together that in a very deliberate way progress one upon the other.

Pagan Christianity?: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices is the second book in that series. This book, The Untold Story of the New Testament Church, is the first. It’s first for a reason. What is foundational to the ecclesiology (Study of the Church) of Frank Viola is the approach to understanding the Bible that he takes. Many Christians do not have a strong understanding of from where their beliefs about many things come. Many of the doctrines and understandings in denominational churches come from an approach that is known as Systematic Theology. Systematic Theology finds its first expression in John Calvin’s, Institutes of the Christian Religion. What Systematic Theology does in short, is it examines the entire Bible and finds every passage it can on a particular subject or theme and then it attempts to synthesize everything the Bible has to say on that particular subject into a comprehensive doctrine. Of course, every denomination or movement has their own particular means of making that synthesis and you wind up with a strong reason for why there are over 30,000 different denominations in protestantism.

Frank Viola doesn’t entirely discount a Systematic Approach but he advocates an approach that when taken roots the Scriptures, and in this case particularly, the New Testament, in it’s own historical context. Rather than splitting the scriptures up into their smallest thought components and stripping them of the immediate context that surrounds them (which Systematic Theology tends to do), Viola examines things in a way that puts the Scriptures into a narrative framework. Using the Scriptures themselves and in particular, the book of Acts as the means to understand who a particular book was written to or about scripture serves to begin to paint broad themes that find their context with the Scriptures themselves instead of relying upon tradition and philosophy to organize thoughts in a manner than may be completely foreign to anything that the original readers understood.

While this approach of Biblical Theology is not as well known or appreciated in many quarters as is the practice of Systematic Theology and proof-texting, Viola presents it in a “cookies on the lower shelf” manner that most readers will find easily understandable. Further, the book is intended to be read beside an open Bible that encourages the reader to read entire books in the NT with a better understanding of what was going on that prompted the author to address certain subjects and practices.

This book is first in the series for a reason. It provides a foundation for understanding why Viola presents things as he does in the following 4 books in the series:

Pagan Christianity?: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices
Reimagining Church: Pursuing the Dream of Organic Christianity
From Eternity to Here: Rediscovering the Ageless Purpose of God
Finding Organic Church: A Comprehensive Guide to Starting and Sustaining Authentic Christian Communities

Having read the entire series and also having observed the criticism and controversy that at times can arise in reviews and discussion, many times this reviewer has taken note that much misunderstanding comes from the direction of those whose traditions are being challenged who equate those traditions with Scripture itself. If you want to give Viola’s works a fair reading and evaluate them in context, this book is really where you need to start. When you understand how Viola is approaching Scripture then you’ll understand why he comes to some of the conclusions that he does. Even if there is not full agreement, there will at least be a better appreciation of the foundations that underlie Viola’s thinking and interpretation of Scripture and indirectly there should be a similarly increased self-awareness on the part of the critic as to why they may agree or disagree in part or whole with what he has to say.

Needless to say, it may just challenge the reader to accept much of what Viola is saying as it’s the opinion of this reviewer that the foundations are indeed Biblical and less influenced by tradition and outside philosophies than are many other more prevelant and popular points of view that fall under the umbrella of Christianity today.

While this book is the shortest of the series, it really takes the most time to read and digest if you follow the recommendations to read from the New Testament itself as you work through the book. The reader who takes that time and effort will come out with the equivalent of a higher education hermeneutics (interpretation of scripture) course and a greater appreciation of all that goes into why we accept things as Biblically true or not.

5 stars not just because I agree with a great deal of what Viola has to say, but also because I believe he’s done many a great service by opening to them a world of understanding in how to read the Bible that many professing Christians lack.

bart breen

Disclosure – A copy of this book was provided to this reviewer free of charge by the author for the sole purpose of inviting a review. No promises of any review or of a positive review were given or implied. The opinions expressed in this review represent the sole opinion of the reviewer based upon a reading of the book.

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