There are some topics/themes/subjects that are best dealt with through stories - because we need to be involved at the level of our emotions and feelings. Looking at academic arguments carefully laid out in essays, or even picking verses from the Bible, doesn't help us find answers to our deepest questions, because somewhere along the line the theory has to meet the experience - and the answers begin to come out of the wreckage of that collision!Questions such as 'why does God allow suffering?', 'how can I forgive ...?', 'where is God in my pain?' can be relatively easy to answer in the classroom of a Bible college (especially if you have a background in philosophy as well as theology), but how do those answers prepare us to come face to face with the reality in our own lives and in the lives of those we love?
This is a book that begins to tackle some of these questions - but it does so in a way that won't leave you with answers in your head that you could put in an essay, but in a way that could potentially change your life.
I am aware that I do not want to give too much away - as it will spoil your enjoyment when you come to read the book, as I hope you will. So as far as outline I will give you no more than is written on the back cover. This book is about a father, Mack, whose youngest daughter, Missy, is abducted during a family holiday and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later, and still struggling to come to terms with what happened, Mack receives a note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend.
Against his better judgement he arrives at the shack and walks back into his nightmare. What he finds there will change his world forever. And as you read about Mack's experience and what he found there in the Shack it may change your world forever too.
I found this a fascinating work of fiction, that raises questions, answers others, and has the potential to radically alter the way we think about God and ourselves. From a quick read on different Internet sites it is clearly a book that polarises opinion - from 'this book has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress did for his. It's that good' to 'Heresy'.
I know there are some pastors who have told their congregations not to read this book and it won't take long to find online reviews that pull it to pieces, making the case that it undermines the Bible etc.
But
I want to encourage you to read it, to enjoy it, to cry and be moved by it, to wrestle with the questions it raises, to disagree with some bits if you want, to skip over bits that blow your mind if you want, to read it again, to talk about it with your housegroup, to leave a comment below... and you never know - maybe you'll be a different person as a result.Let me know what you think.
3 comments:
Do you not have any negative views about the Shack? I can't remember if we have talked about it already?
We hadn't talked about it because I hadn't read it - and I didn't want anyone spoiling the storyline for me!
As far as negative views go ...
[IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE BOOK YOU MAY WANT TO STOP READING AT THIS POINT - THE FOLLOWING COMMENTS MAY SPOIL YOUR ENJOYMENT OF THE SHACK]
I think it would be fairly easy to level criticism at the book from a variety of theological points of view - but to do so misses the point of the book. It is a work of fiction and does not set out to be a work of systematic theology, although it clearly sets out to address some theological themes.
There is (from memory) little or no reference to the Bible and the role that Bible reading or church involvement etc would play in establishing a healthy relationship with God. But to counteract that argument Mack has had his perspective of God damaged in the past by a father who attended church, could quote the Bible, and yet still abused him. His experiences in the Shack were seeking to get his relationship with God right by counteracting that past.
I'm sure the fact that God the Father and God the Holy Spirit appear as women is a major issue for some people - because of course we know that God is a white male with a beard! But the book makes it quite clear that God isn't a larger than life, African-American woman - 'He' simply chooses to appear this way to Mack because that is going to be best for the weekend - Mack needs to have his view of God seriously challenged rather than endorsed; and although not stated it is obvious from Mack's upbringing that his relationship with his mother is a better than his relationship with his abusive father. Once Mack's relationship with his late father is resolved towards the end of the book, God then appears as a man - because on that day Mack is going to need a father.
Another slightly negative view would be one of style rather than theology. One of the powers of story is that often you leave the hearer to work out the application and point for themselves - Jesus did not explain many of his parables. Within a Christian perspective, the story teller would leave the application for the individual to dwell on and allow God the Holy Spirit to apply. But Young obviously is wanting to make certain points whilst at the same time using the format of story rather than writing a systematic theology - and he does this through the conversations between Mack and the three persons of the Trinity. For me these were the weakest parts of the book - but unavoidable.
What other negative views might you expect me to hold?
I didn't expect you to have any in particular, I was just surprised that you were so complimentary of it when there are down points to it too.
I have listened to people slate the book online and I do think that it’s important to remember that it’s a work of FICTION!
However, having said that it is based on a true God and therefore it is sometimes difficult to view it totally as a work of fiction.
The only main problem I have with it is that because he is such a good writer he makes God come alive in the pages. I am a very visual person and I like to have the clear pictures in my head. I therefore found it difficult to separate the God in the book from the God I have a relationship with. Even though I was challenging myself from the beginning I found it hard to not imagine the holy spirit especially as a woman in a floaty dress. It sounds stupid writing that now but that’s how involved I felt when I was reading the book – and of course we shouldn’t be making a ‘graven image’ of God.
It could be argued that this is a work of fiction and so that doesn’t count, but I personally found it difficult.
I think people should definitely read it, and I think it’s really encouraging and a useful evangelistic tool - but I also think people should read it with a guarded mind. It’s a feel good story because it shows the true love of God, and I guess I get worried that people will take ‘The Shack’ as truth instead of the bible, especially if they are coming at it as non-Christians.
I hope that makes sense!
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