What About "The Shack?"

Q: What's your opinion on the book The Shack? I understand it's written by an author who is a Christian but I've heard stuff that is critical.

I assume from your question that you have read it. What did you think? How did you respond? I have asked many people about The Shack and to a person if they have read the book then they were profoundly moved by the love of God, even though the most horrific tragedies and traumas of life. And to a person, if they have read the critiques and not the book they were incensed at the perceived theological liberties taken.

William Paul Young is a gifted writer who wrote a moving book about a man who encountered the living Triune God at the worst point of pain imaginable and he discovered God’s love, care and forgiveness. At a time when Christianity is being generally maligned by our culture as insensitive and condemning, this book has impacted people who long to know God as a loving and forgiving Father. For those who have suffered pain that has left them unable to resolve their world with the thought of such a loving Father, the book is a Godsend.

Yes, there are a number of things to critique if you were reading The Shack as a book of theology, which it isn't. It is a fictional novel. Just as in the Narnia series by CS Lewis, if it was held to the standard of a theological treatise, it would be found wanting. The most obvious theological issue of the book is that of presenting God the Father as a human. In doing so, Young emphasizes the personal nature of the Father – characterized by grace, mercy and love – without including any portrayal of the righteousness of the Father – characterized by holiness, justice and even wrath. To the person who does not know the God of the Bible, that leads to a misunderstanding regarding the seriousness of God’s plan for mankind and the reason Jesus came to die a substitutionary death on the cross. The demands of God’s righteousness met the provision of his personal care at the cross, where God Himself did what we could not. The cross, the central revelation of Scripture, is where the love of God meets the wrath of God. And we can learn this all in the Bible.

Which brings up another important issue regarding Young’s book: the relative absence of direct Scriptural quotes from the Bible. Young puts words into God’s mouth, but they are rarely directly from the one source that we understand to be God’s revelation of Himself. It would have been helpful if Sarayu (the Holy Spirit) had made clear the connection between how “she” peaks into the spirit of a man and the Word where that interaction takes place – the Bible.

Having said that, in our opinion, many of the criticisms leveled against The Shack are out of step with the tone of the book, which is fictional and not theological. Though there are some legitimate concerns, it really is a good story and a good read. Story can be very powerful and effective at importing a message into the heart, and for many people, The Shack has been a doorway to a re-engagement with God. I encourage people to read it and then talk about it. And remember, that author (Young) wrote about another Author (God). If you liked The Shack, you really need to read the book by the Author of whom Young wrote, the Bible. Then you can have your own encounter with the living Triune God!