The Shack

The Shack, by William P. Young is a bit of a phenomenon.

Until recently its only publicity was an enthusiastic word-of-mouth campaign as devoted readers said the magic words to their friends: "You have to read this book." I first heard about it last spring from a pastor friend who couldn't stop talking about how great it was.

I don't know how many copies it has sold but it was recently reviewed in both Time Magazine and Christianity Today. I'm bumping into people right and left who are reading it.

It's being compared with Pilgrim's Progress which was an enormously influential book in its time and shaped several generations of readers. I figured I'd better give it a look so I read it while I was on vacation.

My reaction was a bit more qualified than some of my friends.

I thought it was extraordinarily creative in its approach and very courageous in many ways. The writer takes all of his pain and tries to work through it in print. He largely succeeds in what he tries to do. He addresses the issues of human evil and the providence of God and answers some big questions in a tender, open-eyed, and biblical fashion.

I love the things The Shack says about forgiveness - what forgiveness is and what it is not and why it is vital if you want to overcome the evil that has been done to you. For that reason alone it is probably worth reading.

But there are several things I see as weaknesses.

The major plot device in the book is that the main character is summoned to meet with God in the shack where his daughter was murdered. God appears in three human forms representing the three Persons of the Trinity. While this enables the writer to break some typical Western stereotypes (God is a Grumpy Old White Man With a Beard), it guarantees he's going to replace them with brand new stereotypes (God is an Old Black Woman Who Likes to Hug).

I suppose if you have to choose between the stereotypes, Young's is better than what we're used to, but there is probably a good reason why the Bible forbids us to portray God visually. If nothing else God loses some of his transcendence. In the Scriptures no one, not even Moses, gets to look God straight in the face. Even the angels in God's presence cover their faces with their wings. Young's main character sits down at the table with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit while they swap jokes. While I understand that the writer was trying to make God seem more approachable, I can't help but think he sacrifices too much of God's majesty and holiness.

Still, I realize why he did it. He is writing out of his pain and wanting to reconnect with a God who has seemed distant, cold and uncaring. The fact that he goes a bit too far in the other direction is understandable.

A bit more distasteful is the writer putting words in God's mouth which dismiss religion, politics, economics, and the church. He says these are all "institutions" and God doesn't like them and didn't invent them. Instead we are supposed to focus on relationships - with God and each other.

Of course the problem is that when people get together and have relationships they look like.....politics, economics, and religion. Politics is simply people getting together to get things done. Ecomics is people cooperating to make a living. Religion is people of faith cooperating to serve God. These things aren't bad. They are a part of the way God set up the world. But each of these things gets twisted by human selfishness and used to abuse others.

Instead of avoiding them (and how can one avoid them really unless one hides in a cave?) or cynically dismissing them, a true Christian calling is to participate in God's redemption of them. There are honest politicians who put the good of the public first. There are compassionate businessmen who use their wealth to bless others. And, as for the church, yes people in positions of authority within it often abuse their power to hurt others, but it is still God's means for extending redemption to a fallen world.

In sum, the book's strengths are its weaknesses. The writer's pain enables him to address some of the mysteries of faith with great authority and depth and humaness. In other places his pain seems to short circuit his capacity for hope, causing him to dismiss aspects of human life which God intends to redeem.

I don't know if The Shack is the Second Coming of Pilgrim's Progress, but many people have already found it helpful as they wrestle with the sadness and pain of life in a broken world.