The Shack – William Young

The Shack was not on my reading list.  I’d heard about it, some good and some bad.  Most of the bad had to do either with how God was depicted as an African American woman named Papa or how the Trinity was portrayed.  In any case, I had a pile of books on my wish list already and The Shack was not going to make the cut.

However, my mom read it.  She really liked it and said it was a book that my dad would have enjoyed.  My dad was Baptist preacher who joined the Army during the Vietnam war.  After retiring from the Army he ran a small college for a few years before finishing his career as a Hospice chaplain.  I’m not sure how conservative my dad was when he first became a preacher.  But he would tell me that after spending time in Vietnam, working as a hospital Chaplain, and finally helping people die in peace with Hospice that he probably would not make it in a Baptist church.

In any case, since my mom talked so enthusiastically about the book I figured I should read it.  I needed to figure out for myself if it was a good as the Christian media says or as bad as some conservative Christian leaders warned.

For those that do not know the story here is a quick summary…

Willie (the Author) is telling a story about his friend Mack.  Mack’s youngest daughter is abducted and after a extensive search the police believe she has been killed by a known serial killer.  A Great Sadness comes over Mack and his life lose all joy.

God sends Mack a note in his mailbox asking him to meet Him at the shack where they found his daughters red dress when she was abducted.  Mack can’t imagine anything worse than visiting that shack again but he can’t resist finding out who wrote the note.  Was it someone playing a cruel joke?  Was it the killer luring him there to kill him as well?  Was it really God?

Mack’s wife and kids leave for the weekend so Mack borrows his friend jeep (and gun) and decides to check it out.  It turns out that the note really is from God and the rest of the book is Mack experiences hanging out and getting to know God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.

As mentioned above, God the Father manifest himself as an African American woman named Papa.  The reason God gives for this manifestation is that because Mack had such a hurtful relationship with his own father, God knew Mack would never be reached by a father figure.  Later in the book God does show himself as a man when he says that Mack needs a father for the next lesson.  He has silver white hair, pulled back in a ponytail, a mustache and a goatee.

Jesus is a 30-something Jewish carpenter looking man.  His description is probably how you would picture Jesus if he had been born in 1979 rather than 2000 years ago in Palestine.  When I think of Jesus today I think more of a King persona than a average working Joe but it was much easier to take than Papa.

The Holy Spirit is portrayed as an Asian woman named Sarayu.  She is kind of between human looking and spirit looking.  Mack finds it hard to focus on her.

I think right away you can see where many conservative Christians are going to have a problem with this book.  Honestly, it kind of bothered me as I read it.  I understand why God was manifested this way in the story.  The idea was for Mack to get to know the Godhead in a personal and intimate way and these manifestations helped with this part of the story.  However, it seemed to take away much of who God is in the bible.

There is no doubt that Mack was living in a Great Sadness.  I actually skimmed very quickly through the first part of the book because I did not want to spend to much time reading about him losing his little girl.  I don’t even want my mind to go there.

The dialog he has with the different persons of the Trinity does a great job of showing Mack his sadness and convincing him that only God can take it away.  In fact, there are many truths in the story that do a great job portraying God’s love for us.

There were quite a few references and insinuations that I was not comfortable with at all.  It was never stated directly but I got the impression that there was a message of Universalism.  However, the author never took it that far.  There was no mention of spiritual Satan and his demons.  I’ve experienced Great Sadness both personally and with a loved one and I know when you're down Satan attacks.  The spiritual warfare can’t really just be ignored but it is ignored in the book and I’m not sure why.

The story ends with Mack learning to forgive his daughter's killer,confessing to his wife that he did not share the note from God with her when he should have, and helping his older daughter heal from her own Great Sadness.

When I first talked to my mom about this book I told her I had heard some criticism about how the Trinity was portrayed.  But I said I did not give too much credence to that because this was just a novel and not meant to be a theological book.  However, after reading The Shack it is quite clear that the author has every intention of telling his theological perspective through this story.  It really is a theological book.

So what’s my final verdict?  I enjoyed the book.  I disagree with where the author was taking some of his views about God.  However, he did do a great job portraying God’s love for us and God’s love within the Trinity.  The biggest benefit for me with reading this book is that it has made me want to get into the bible and into prayer to get to know God more.  I want to know that love he expressed in the book that God has for all of us, especially since I know that love is more than any man inspired book could adequately explain.

On the negative side, there is a real danger for Christians and non-Christians to read this book and use it as their basis for knowing God.  The Shack is just William Young’s theological perspective on God.  You have to find God in the bible, not The Shack.