review: Reimagining Church

Reimagining church
Frank Viola


I never bothered to read Viola's earlier book, Pagan Christianity, which was the talk of the bologosphere about a year ago. From the reviews I saw, I expected that I would know much of what he had to say, already. I looked forward to this book, though, as a much more positive offering. The previous book, if you like, set out what had gone wrong with the church; here, Reimagining church: pursing the dream of organic Chtistianity would surely reset the balance by suggesting what to do about it.

Well, it does. Sort of. The trouble is, I had an overwhelming sense of déja vu. For in chapter after chapter, as if he is describing something new, Viola describes to near perfection the tradition I grew up with. That's generally known as the "Christian Brethren", a decidedly vague name, on account of how that group (if it can be called a group) has never sought a name, or an identity, or any kind of denominational structure. In a sense, it's no surprise that Viola should rediscover Bretheren ecclesiology: after all, in the early chapters he warmly quotes F. F. Bruce, who was for most of his life a leading member of a Brethren assembly.

So, the book takes us through the reasons for Christians meeting together, the centrality of the Lord's supper, the open participation of all believers [ok, so for the Brethren, "all" has tended to mean "all men". Things have moved on], pluarality of leadership, elders as emerging gifted indivduals, not office-holders, consensus as a means of assembly decision-making, and so on. If you picked up any text on Brethren distinctives, you would find exactly the same stuff - even to the repeated phrase of "being gathered to Christ alone".

One point of divergence, perhaps, is that Viola stresses the value of meeting in homes rather than set-aside sancturaies: togetherness, rather than pews facing a pulpit (or altar, if you're of a higher church persusaion): Brethren have often - and in recent years, particularly - tended to own premises for the assembly to meet in, but frequently will meet "in the round" rather than in traditional church format.

So what shall I make of Viola's suggestion that this is how church should be? Well, the Brethren movement, if we shall call it that, has lasted some 170 years, but is becoming close to defunct: those that kept their distinctives have mostly whithered away; those who have embraced other ideas are often indistinguishable from other free churches (with notable exceptions). Part of me is thrilled to see these ideas rehearsed afresh, because I have held many of them very dear for a long time; part of me is disarmed, to say the least, that they should be presented as if discovered for the first time. (If, dear reader, you want to see a sometimes tenuous argument that these ideas have been present throughout church history, you might try to lay your hands on the truly ponderous The Pilgrim Church, by E. H. Broadbent. You should buy a case of Red Bull at the same time.)

As regards content and presentation, the book is fairly easy to read, though frequent long quotes from other authors put me off, rather. The rhetoric is over-blown at times, giving rise to some questionable bits of theology: even though I tend to find the conclusions sound, the argument is sometimes rather dodgy.

This is stuff that I feel as if I know a great deal about, in theory and in practice (what works, and what does not). I'm going to have to look for other reivews of this book, I can see...