Review: The Shack by William P. Young
This book was supposed to help me understand the Trinity.
Seriously?
If I would take this book to heart, it would only serve to obscure my understanding of the Trinity.
To be honest, I never finished the book.
Why?
I couldn’t get past the imagery of God the Father.
Not the resulting imagery, mind you, but the fact there is an actual image of the Father:
Exodus 20:4 (ESV) “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
When I think of God as the Trinity, I think of Him in the standard Father, Jesus Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit. But looking at God as One, I think of the Father being the Soul and Mind, Jesus the Body and Spirit being the Spirit.
In other words, I can imagine what Jesus Christ looked like according to the unromantic, very manly, grimy, plain, just a dude imagery according to…
Isaiah 53:2 (ESV) For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.
I can even imagine the Spirit of God hovering over the waters like in Genesis 1:2 or as a dove according to Luke 3:22 or John 1:32.
But an image of God the Father? What does the mind or the soul look like?
Honestly, when I think of the throne room with Jesus at the right hand of the Father, the most I could possibly see is the foot of the Father.
A Follow-up:
I couldn’t stand not finishing the book so I went ahead I knocked out the last 150 pages in one day.
New resulting review? There are many good things to say about this book primarily if you are someone who doesn’t understand that God is a loving, caring, emotional, grieving and understanding God.
That said, just as much as God is loving and gracious, so too He is sovereign, just and holy. As much as the author may think he is above theological critique because this book is fiction, he is not. You write about God, you have to present God for who He is. While we may never understand who God is, all in all, we do know He is several things according to Scripture:
- Just
- Merciful
- Holy
- True
- Holy
- Divine
- Sovereign
- Lord
- Faithful
You can’t present the loving, gracious God without presenting the sovereign, holy God. These are not even sides of Him but all of Him. He is 100% holy, 100% truth, 100% faith, 100% gracious, 100% just, 100% sovereign, etc..
There were also many parts in the story where if they author would have completed the thought, he could have presented the gospel of Jesus Christ. For example, I love how the author says about Jesus that, (and I heavily paraphrasing) “that everybody is on their own path trying to find me but I go and find them instead.” I love that imagery as it is God who is wooing us as akin to Song of Solomon. However, if the author would have simply completed that thought, Jesus could have explained why He is the only way to the Father and that all paths go through Him to get to the Father as Jesus clearly described in:
John 14:6 “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.“
In my humblest opinion, it would have been incredibly easy just for Jesus (in the book) to make that point. But without the presentation of the gospel, Mr. Young comes close to sounding like a Universalist, who abide the heresy that Jesus Christ is not the only way to God the Father.
The other point is that God (in the book) states that there is no chain of command and no head of the Triune. While Father, Son and Holy Spirit are in a community working equally and together, Jesus states in:
John 5:19 “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.”
Yes they work in one accord but it is clearly by the Father’s will. Likewise, Jesus submits to the will of the Father above His own:
Luke 22:42 “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
While Jesus is clearly God and equal with the Father and the Spirit in every way, the Father is still first among equals. Above all, Jesus gives the greatest example of dying in order to live, in submission in order to be lifted high and humbled in order to be glorified.
Is it as bad as I thought the book to be, theologically speaking. Not really. This book can be throughly enjoyed if an immense amount of discernment is given while reading this book. If you are a believer who doesn’t understand the loving nature of God, then this book is for you. Otherwise you don’t have to waste your time with it.
My wife started reading this book as well and stopped around the same time as you did.. It has really been hot in most Christian circles too..
i cannot read it for pretty much the same reason.
people have used the line :its Christian fiction:
to which i respond….
the fact that you used the word CHRISTIAN to describe it should tell you what it should reflect. and the book, at its core DOES NOT FIT THAT DESCRIPTION!!!!
Fiction or not, you still have a responsibility to be theologically sound.
Interesting, Joe. I haven’t heard this take on the book yet… Well, except from a seminary buddy who basically called it “heresy.”
Most blog-writer-readers have raved over “the shack.”
I haven’t picked it up.
I have chatted a lot with a lot of people over this book.
You know what my deal is: maybe it’s that I don’t like inspirational books.
There are some people who don’t like my theology books.
And that is more than okay.
An acquaintance at the library suggested I read The Shack, so I checked out it out last week, having never even heard of the book before that day. I’ve stopped reading completely and will return it to the library TODAY. I began skimming at about page 72 . . . and I’ve had nightmares every night since picking it up! This drove me to the internet to see what was being said in truly Christian circles about this. Initially disturbed by the representation of God as a female, my distaste with the entire thing grew. I find the subject matter (child murder) and the themes and content completely disturbing. Today’s research confirmed my suspicion that there’s nothing redeeming in this novel. It’s out of my house, TODAY!
Kathy: I have spoken to many people about this since writing this review.
I understand that because of this book, many people came to see God as not just some sovereign, overbearing Lord but a beautiful, redeeming, gracious and loving Saviour.
So for that, I applaud the book.
However, there is most definitely a way to teach people about the merciful and goodness of God that didn’t involve near heresy and could have used a lot more scripture to back up the author’s point.
The best and most indepth review of the book can be found at TheResurgence written by Scott Lindsey: http://tinyurl.com/6lg7k9
At least he finished the book. I couldn’t even do that.