So is The Shack something that will, “leave you craving the presence of God” or is it meant to “deceive you with a counterfeit Jesus”? Is it going “to do for our generation what John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress did for his” or is it “outright heresy”?
As you read reviews of The Shack, and there are many, generally people fall toward one camp or another. And I meant strongly. Just google the book and you can read the above quotes and many others for yourself.
If you haven’t heard much about the book yet, here’s a quick synopsis.
The book is a novel written by William P. Young and is about a man, Mack, who has a painful upbringing full of abuse, who seemingly overcomes this history to become a loving family man, but whose life is rocked by the tragic murder of a child. As he deals with this pain he receives a note inviting him to the shack, the place his child was killed and it is signed by God. He goes to the shack meets with God in the three persons of the Trinity. As he dialogues with all three he is confronted with the question of whether or not he can trust God who allowed this evil to happen.
This is obviously some weighty stuff. There is some weighty emotional stuff and some weighty theology involved. And in trying to bring these together, obviously the author is going to get into some controversial stuff. Combine this with the fact that the book is written as a fiction novel and you make things that much murkier. What is meant as theology? What’s simply dialogue and a person’s musings? And what exactly does the author mean by . . .
Believe me, as I went through the book I put a lot of “?”s in the margins and also a lot of “in one way, yes, in another no”s as well.
So what do I think?
Well, I’ll come out. I like the book. There are a lot of things I don’t like. I agree there is some bad theology that can’t be defended. I will even say part of the book are dangerous, but at the same time, there are some things so good in this book that I can’t condemn it. Fundamentally, this book is about dealing with the question of tragedy and sin in this world and continuing in a relationship of trust with the one true God. Most of what the book says and does in response to this issue is right on. This is one of the toughest issues to deal with and in doing so excellently, I think this book is a wonderful read and resource.
So because of this tension, I’m looking forward to some in depth conversation about this book. Also, I’ve noticed that most of the resources on the internet are simply reviews, some that go in depth, but few people are looking at the book chapter by chapter, and inviting conversation.
That’s what I want to do here. If you haven’t read it yet, maybe pick up a copy or borrow one. You probably know someone who has it. Then let’s start dialoguing about it and the things that really make us wonder. Whether you love it, hate it, or fall in between, I think this will be a great conversation and one where we can all learn from each other.
So to get things rolling, what was your first impression of the book? Did any of that change a little as you reread portions or talked with others? And please, don’t reveal too many details this week yet, as some people will be reading it just now. We’ll have plenty of weeks to go into the details later.
We’ll start dealith with the background story in the first few chapters next week. Happy reading!
Tags: book, fiction, review, The Shack, theology, William P. Young
Have read the book, twice to be exact, and have had many questions, look forward to the chapter-by-chapter discussions. My copy has lots of underlining and question marks, too.