The Shack

Loving reading "The Shack"  by William P. Young If you haven't yet read it, you have to... it's incredible - soul crunchingly sad, heart stoppingly beautiful, warm and soothing like a good Islay malt, gently hilarious, inspiring and challenging and it puts you in such a theological helter-skelter that all you can say is "Wheeeeeeeeee"!  It's as readable and engaging as an Airport novel but at the same time as poetic and stirring as pretty much anything you might pick up from the "literature" section of the Library.  Sure, it's not perfect - there are times you want Mack to hold on to his anger just a little longer and really push the questions, there are bit's which border on the cheesey and some theological moments which feel they need digging at... but I have to say, even though it's lacks much in the way of competition, this is the best "Christian" novel I have read in a long long time... maybe ever (I'll tell you if that's the case when I've finished it!)

The EAUK Book Review page describes it thus...

Mackenzie (Mack) Allen Philip’s, an ordinary American, though one with a painful past of his own, decides one weekend to take his kids on a camping trip in the mountains of Oregon. Nothing unusual – just a fun filled weekend of campfires, hiking, canoeing and enjoying the great outdoors. Until tragedy strikes in the most unexpected way. Mack’s two older kids are out canoeing when they lose control and the canoe flips over. The reader naturally expects that one or both of them drowns, but Mack succeeds in saving them. Yet while his attention is focused on saving them, a serial killer abducts his younger daughter Missy. As the search progresses, the dress she had been wearing is found torn and bloodied in a Shack, high up in the mountains, implying that she has been murdered.

What follows for Mack is a time of several years described as The Great Sadness. Mack cannot forgive himself, and perhaps understandably, he blames God for allowing such a tragedy to happen to him. His relationship with God only worsens, becoming stoic and devoid of emotion. Until, one day Mack finds a note in his post box, signed “Papa” (God) inviting him to return to the Shack. Unsure if it is a cruel joke, a trick by the killer or whether it really is God trying to speak to him, curiosity gets the better of Mack and he decides to return to the scene of his daughter’s murder.

Here the story departs from reality as we know it (and indeed where the reader may feel comfortable) and enters a world where Mack meets God – Papa (God) portrayed in the form of a black woman, Jesus as an ordinary man in jeans and t-shirt, and Sarayu (The Holy Spirit) as an Asian woman. Mack spends the weekend with them in a world where time and reality no longer exists as we know it, and during that time finds healing, peace, deeper understanding and forgiveness about life. It’s not easy, for the questions he has to face are challenging and painful, but gradually Papa, Jesus and Sarayu work to bring about healing in Mack’s life and enable him to understand what a relationship with them is supposed to be and how that reflects in his relationship with others.

It might be worth noting that the book makes clear why Papa (Elouisa) God is depicted as an African Woman... the reason being that God is both male and female (supra-gender) and both are created in God's image, Mack primary image of God is as a white male, therefore to challenge his preconceptions God appears as a black woman... Young does not suggest that God IS a black woman anymore than God is a white man!

Technorati Tags: Books: Spirituality: theology

Comments

[Geoff]

I would say that The Shack was...by far... the most captivating fiction book I have read in a long time! Loved it so much, I couldn't put it down!

Really got me thinking more about the Trinity and shattered some misconceptions I have held (unknown to me). I know The Shack is "fiction" but it led me to look deeper into my own long held beliefs. It made God seem more real to me. Put an image of the Trinity in my head.

I could go on, but I've rambled long enough!

[matybigfro]

i bought this book for my mom as i didn't know any other books to give her while she's getting ready for chemo, ironically she never read it and kept reading the pentisperity crap novel she pick up in a local christian book store and then one of her freinds gave her the same book which she then decide to read.

the bonus side of this snubbing (as i do consider my self a bit of a conisour when it comes to picking books, CDs or video's for others to read) is that i have a spare copy to start reading and even only one chapter in the tone of the book is lovely and the writting is much better than i expected from a christian book store book (although i bought my copy in waterstone i think when my moms freind told her it was in wesley owen i think she felt safe to read it).

the real benifit though is that now when i talk about faith with her (probably the reason she didn't trust the book initially) rather than giving me a somewhat vacant 'what are you talking about willis' face she seems more open to what i'm thinking as well as comprehening and understanding what i'm saying alittle bit more.

[wilsonian]

I just listened to two talks given by Young. Both very powerful, and would definitely mean more after having read the book. You'll need a chunk of time, but it is well worth it!

http://www.crossroadsdenver.org/MP3/craudio_sun092108_WPY1.mp3
http://www.crossroadsdenver.org/MP3/craudio_sun092108_WPY2.mp3

Peace.

[Carole]

I'm also reading this book at the moment. I'm enjoying it immensely but I'm finding it a bit weird getting my head around the characterisation of the Trinity. I suppose my pre-conceived ideas are a bit too fixed! And as far as Jesus goes, he reminds me a bit too much of the Jesus character from the Mr Deity web series - do a google search if you haven't seen Mr Deity...

[eMarketing]

By habit, I am suspicious of books that are popular, especially in the Christian market. I read The Shack guardedly expecting for Oprah's New Age type religion/philosophy.

I was pleasantly surprised with this stirring and unforgettable story about God's love and spiritual healing.

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A trick called "gunwale bobbing" or "gunwaling" allows a canoe to be propelled without a paddle. The canoeist stands on the gunwales, near the bow or the stern, and squats up and down to make the canoe rock backward and forward.

[Fat Burners]

What follows for Mack is a time of several years described as The Great Sadness. Mack cannot forgive himself, and perhaps understandably, he blames God for allowing such a tragedy to happen to him. His relationship with God only worsens, becoming stoic and devoid of emotion.