The Shack

Before he left for Africa (again), Mike Todd visited Ontario. The planets conspired to keep me from meeting with him as I had hoped. On his return to British Columbia, however, Mike mailed me a copy of The Shack by William P. Young. What an amazing gift.

From the back cover:

Mackenzie Allen Philips' youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted druing a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later, in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicous note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend.

Mack does indeed return to the shack, and does indeed meet with God, who appears as a large African American woman named 'Papa' who loves to cook. Jesus is, understandably, a Middle-Eastern man with the look of a labourer, while the Holy Spirit appears as a shimmering, somewhat trasluscent Asian woman named Sarayu. What follows is a weekend-long conversation amongst these four in which Mack must confront his pain, his anger towards God and the inadequacies of his previous understanding of life, the universe and everything.

The Shack has taken some criticism for it's depiction of the Trinity, particularly in regards to a heresy known as modalism, wherein Father, Son and Holy Spirit are understood to be three manifestations of one being, existing consecutively but never concurrently. I'm certainly no theologian, but the criticism seems unfounded to me - unfounded to the extent that only a person who has never read the book could offer this criticism. (The pertinent explanation of the nature of the Trinity is found on pages 100-101; the simultaneous existence of the three persons of the Godhead occurs throughout Mack's engagement with them.) What I did struggle with is Young's writing. Vast swaths of the opening chapters are simply overwrought and the final chapter is an obvious attempt to tie up loose ends. Perhaps they speak a different language in the Pacific Northwest, but a canoe is propelled by a paddle, not an oar, and such simple but obvious mistakes interupt the reader. Throughout Mack's engagement with the Trinity there are whole chapters of nothing but dialogue and, frankly, much of it sounds contrived ("Let's use the example of friendship and how removing the element of life from a noun can drastically alter a relationship")

In the end, though, none of it mattered. I was simply swept up in the conversation and the events Mack is immersed in during his weekend with God. Though I had heard that this book presents a brilliant portrayal of the Trinity (and it does) that's not what The Shack is about. It is, instead, the story of one man reconciling his unimaginable pain with the concept of a loving, all-wise and all-powerful God. The Shack invites us into a conversation that speaks of the things we've all questioned without receiving satsifactory answers. Oh, we have - at our fingertips - all the information on the Trinity and human suffering we could ever imagine, all of it presented in the dry, clinical tones of academia and sermonic inadequacies. This is different. This examination of Mack's great pain - of all our pain - takes place in the context of a loving relationship between God and Mack. The relationship between the three persons of God is so loving, so close and so joyful that I found myself longing to be a part of it - I wanted to be drawn into the story, a quality of craft that far more talented writers aspire to with less effect. This book is flawed, imperfect and annoying but it is also engaging, energetic, brilliant and wise. I can't reccommend it highly enough.

Comments

[Michael]

I believe if God uses the writer of this fictional book and it's illastrations of Himself in His Trinity, then it is good. Someone who may not otherwise be drawn into a relationship with God get captured this way then great! After all, He will use what it takes because He wants all of His chidren to come home to Him.

LOVE LIKE HIM,
G.B.U.
Michael <>< <>< <><

[karen]

I just came across this book a few weeks ago as well, and I can't get many of the things it says out of my mind. I think it has, for better or worse, shaped some of my thoughts about God. The echoing line that I have remembered again and again since then is 'I am especially fond of him (or her)'.

[Johnny Brooks]

I did not notice the whole paddle oar thing. In fact till i read your article I would not have known you propelled a canoe with a paddle and not an oar.

[[rhymes with kerouac]]

Michael - From everything I've heard, God really is using this book to touch people in a lot of different ways.

Karen - That line stood out for me, as well.

Johnny Brooks - I don't know why that whole paddle/oar thing bugged me so much. It's the most irrelevant detail in the whole book and yet it bugged me to no end. No idea why.

[kel]

you have put into words precisely how i felt about reading this book

[[rhymes with kerouac]]

kel - If this keeps up, The Shack might become a global phenomenom...

[dsheff]

Yes, the paddle/oar thing is a serious issue for me as well. It's a question of credibility. I mean this guy claims to have been born in Canada, isn't that just in our DNA or something?

More seriously, I agree with your assessment of the book. While my church experience has taught me doctrines that try to answer the intellectual questions I have about God, Young seems to be tackling the emotional questions that always remained unspoken. And like God, I'm particularly fond of Bruce Cockburn.

[beth]

David's not kidding - after reading The Shack aloud (a lovely way to experience the book) we had to circumvent lake ontario to see Bruce Cockburn in concert! It was well worth the trip to the good ole USofA.
I am finding that as well that those who castigate the book most loudly will often admit they have not read the book!
Mostly it's a case of sour grapes. An abundance mentality is in short supply among christian leaders turned novelists..... And yet I am finding myself thinking about the unloveable yet powerful "God is especially fond of ______"

[becky]

Thank you!! Just THANK YOU...... I wish I could say it like that to those that criticize my having read it...
http://unforcedrthymsofgrace.blogspot.com/

[[rhymes with kerouac]]

dsheff - We're not really good at vocalizing the emotional questions, are we?

beth - Circumventing Lake Ontario is highly recommended. It looks real pretty and blue on the map, but driving across it is another matter altogether. (Yes, I am a smart ass, thank you very much!)

becky - Why are people criticizing you for reading it? Dont' they think you can make up your own mind?