The Shack: Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity by William P. Young
|
List Price: Our Price: $2.76 You Save: $12.23 (82%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of The Shack: Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity
Book Review: The Shack and its worthy predecessors
Summary: 5 Stars
My sister was murdered when she was fourteen and I was seventeen. Over the years since then, several books have touched me deeply at the very point of my lingering grief over Ellen: First, Anne Tyler's The Accidental Tourist: A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle); then Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones.
The Shack is my most recent experience with a literary angel ministering to this grief--and my determination to remember. In my own Friends (Quaker) community, The Shack has raised controversies among pastors, some of whom defend this book passionately and some of whom charge it with silliness at least and serious heresy at worst.
An unstamped note in a mailbox invites grieving father Mack to meet "Papa" (God) in the very place where Mack's daughter had been brutally killed by a serial murderer. Papa turns out to be a black woman. And God loves to cook as well as talk theology. The other members of the Trinity are are also given more or less unstereotypical portrayals--but more than that I dare not say for fear of spoiling the book for you.
Having read the comments on our Northwest (USA) Friends pastors' e-mail list before reading the book, my heresy detector was definitely on a hairtrigger, but, despite Papa's dogma-busting assertions of the primacy of relationship over rules, and expectancy over expectations, I could not find it. What I did find, however, were intimations of grace and immortality and redemption every bit as wrenching/comforting as in The Lovely Bones. And not only did they concern the fate of Missy, the victim, but also of family members who blamed themselves for contributing to her death, and particularly for Mack's father, whose abusive ways had distorted Mack's ability to receive grace from God and perceive grace in the church. God also speaks very directly to the murderer's place in God's purposes, but I'm just not going to say more; see for yourself. That aspect of the book reminded me of a poignant moment in my own story--my sister's murderer's mother trying to evangelize my atheist father in the courtroom where her son's murder trial was taking place!
Honestly, I don't understand why some church people are so nervous about the grace-over-law emphasis of this book. It's completely framed within the paramount importance of personal relationship with God. There's no question of God saying "anything goes," but here's the central proposition of William Young's book: within that trust-filled relationship, marked by knowing fully how much God loves you, the fruits of the Spirit will flourish, including self-control. Apart from that relationship, the rules that some find so reassuring come across to me as intellectual bullying dressed up in a pseudo-spiritual black leather binding. And when I think of what some of the heroic defenders of biblical normalcy have been able to swallow in recent American political context--illegal invasion, torture, indefinite detention for years, to name a few--I'm ready for an evangelical bias towards grace. Maybe when we see our country staggering from the awful effects of stressing grace and experiencing the overwhelming love of God, we'll need some stern literary countermeasures. In the meantime, let the debate continue!
Book Review: My two cents worth
Summary: 5 Stars
With all these reviews on one book what can I add? My two cents worth. Didn't know anything about this book until I ran across a blog that talked about the reactions it was getting. A little truth in advertising about me: I'm 53 years old, married 30 years and have been a Christian since 1978. My church background was mainly Pentecostal-charismatic. But thank God, the fact that I was a reader of books outside the church library with its paltry offerings of Kenneth Copeland and the rest of the clones saved my mind from severe shrinkage. If it hadn't been for that I'd probably be condemning William Young with the rest of the Christian mob who could easily be the crowd who came with clubs and pitchforks to kill Frankenstein.
My personal theology is pretty conservative and, in the past, I've been part of conservative causes. But I will not be confined by a label, and the tired semantic bookends of "liberal" and "conservative" leave far too much undefined to be useful anymore. My question to anyone, whichever label they like to use, is do you use your God given brain to do any serious thinking worthy of the name? Generally speaking liberal types are propelled by emotion while conservative types are propelled by tradition. They both make me sick. Emotion has its place as well as tradition but neither should do the driving.
So I ordered Young's book from Amazon and read it in a week. There were points here and there where I thought the book was weak and, being a longtime reader of theology, I found myself wondering at times if some concept was going too far here and there. Despite that, I am thrilled that somebody had the guts to write this book. The average Christian is singularly UNIMAGINATIVE and, when it comes to being faithful to Christ, they don't seem to know how to do that with much alacrity and variety. There is some unspoken rule that you can't follow God sincerely without operating within some very rigid guidelines and looking rigid while you do it.
Sure, one can go to the other extreme and have no regard for guidelines while substituting personal preference. But I don't see either extreme as unavoidable. When I read the Bible I don't see either extreme unless Jesus or Paul or a prophet is warning against it. Everywhere else I see a whole lot of freedom that never loses sight of God. I give The Shack five stars, not for impeccable theology or first rate writing (though it wasn't bad), but for daring to bring a sanctified use of IMAGINATION to us all. There hasn't been anyone to do that well since C.S. Lewis.
It's easy to be one of the sourpuss pitchfork carriers always on the lookout for heretical departures while sounding like John Hagee (one of whom is more than enough). God' knows, the only fiction the Christian world is known for now is that load of crap called the Left Behind series. I believe the series is well named. Left brain people are generally more logical. When you think of the depth and majesty of Christ and what He's bequeathed us and the best Christians can come up with is the Left Behind series, it proves they are doing their thinking with the left behind.
My hope is that The Shack will start the ball rolling and encourage other Christian writers to unshackle their imaginations and give us some exciting and powerful alternatives to the bland fare of Family Christian Bookstores everywhere
Book Review: Christian Theology Threatened by the Truth
Summary: 5 Stars
Second only to the Bible in sharing the truth, which is a hard pill to swallow for most people who call themselves 'Christians'.
The Shack will not appeal to those of you unfortunate enough to be to 'simple-minded' to even remotely accept the possibility that organized religion is just that 'organized' (by humans who have nothing but their own self-interest in mind). I have read the Bible, many times, from front to back, and what I read in 'The Shack' shattered my misconceptions brought on by organized religion's attempt to get you to believe whatever it wants you to believe. Open your eyes (and your heart) long enough to read and understand this book. It is telling you that being a Christian is not about going to the right Church, sitting in the right pew with the right close in and leaving in the right car. I see these massive Churches (I live right down the street from Prestonwood in Plano, Texas) and it is full of hypocrites who go to the right Church on Sunday and the rest of the week, flip you off and drive like they are the only ones on the road. And they all have there little fishies on their bumpers, heading for lunch at some fancy restaurant where they can thumb their noses at all of the other denominations.
I can't begin to count the number of so-called Christians I have met who cringe when you even mention the word Muslim or Islam, when in all reality they have no earthly clue what or who a Muslim is, or what Islam is. The Shack removes the veil form the neo-Christians of today, and tell them, point-blank, you haven't really got a clue who God is, who Jesus is, much less what the Holy Spirit is. And if you did, you'd maybe have some empathy for for Mack and any other human being on the planet. But instead you insulate yourself by creating your own little vision of what Christianity means to you and the hell with what the Bible really says. Put down you sanitized NIVs and Max Lucado feel good books, and read the real words of the Bible, and don't just read, understand it, study it, and open your eyes to the rest of the world. God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are not here for you to mold into your own version of what it is to be a Christian; why do you think Jesus said "I'm not a Christian" in this book. Because in order for him to be a Christian he would have to conform to a human standard which would be real convenient for the (Christian) human race, but unfortunately it doesn't work that way.
When people (Christians if it makes you happier) begin to accept the truth of the bible and quit making up their own rules, only then will there be true change in the world. The old saying, "people who live in glass houses should not throw stones" has never had so much relevance as it applies to religion and the self-righteous out there who pretend that their version of God's plan is the only right one, and the rest need to be converted or shunned. Look inside your own self, honestly if at all possible and seek your own truth, not that of a priest, pastor, father, or whoever. In the middle of the Bible is one of the most prophetic of all its passages "It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man." Yet each and every day we take the word of a man over the word of God because it makes it easier to swallow the fact that we are all flawed beings with no real understanding of our own, only what we hear form the pulpit.
Book Review: Stubbornly waiting forever to read a good book
Summary: 5 Stars
I get stubborn when books are too popular, and the latest media hype to provoke my stubborn streak was about "The Shack." First of all, it was something people at church were saying I just "had" to read. Then, as I was finally considering succumbing, the book and advertisements began to appear in style all over the place. Huge displays. Racks and racks of books. Study groups buying in bulk... Oh dear. I decided the Shack could only disappoint so I wouldn't bother reading. Knowing the book was "controversial" would normally have excited my interest, but I was convinced that any apparent controversy would be mild and artificial, nothing more than an aide to sales. So I put the book on my "buy it when it's cheap and read it later" list, and continued to smile "Not yet," when asked if I'd read it.
When our church magazine announced that Paul Young was going to do a book-signing I thought perhaps I should read the book first. After all, how could I meet the author and confess to ignoring what he'd written? So I borrowed it from a friend, the day of the signing, and read it in between making lunch and dinner and doing the washing.
The book-signing was great, and Paul Young's a fascinating speaker. At the end of his talk, he took questions, including one which asked where the characters he used to portray God came from.
Even if you've not read the book yet, you've probably heard the controversy over God appearing as a black woman (can't wait for the movie!). But Paul spoke of his background as a missionary child, how in his earliest years he was brought up by tribes-people and really thought he was black. The God in the Shack meets Mack exactly where he is, meets him how he'll best be able to relate. And perhaps for Paul, it was easiest to relate to a delightful black lady portraying the parental role.
Jesus in the book is, well, Jesus - an Arab-type guy with a tool-belt round his waist, and the knack of walking across the odd lake here and there. Except he says he's just a close relation to the Arabs, and actually Jewish. Then the Holy Spirit is a delightful Asian lady with the Indian name Sarayu, blowing like a "surprising wind" through the tale. Wisdom is Latino. And no, it's not corny, or artificial. It's delightfully intriguing, and intriguingly new.
I believe the Southern Baptists banned "The Shack" for a while, though they changed their mind. C.S. Lewis's "The Great Divorce" was banned by the Christian Union back when I was at college - we all went out to buy copies straight away of course - so that puts Paul Young in good company. I loved his book. I love the answers that are never quite complete, and the relationship that allows them to be so. I love the reminder that God's not a Western, let's all stand-up-kneel-down-sit-down-clap-hands-and-say-Amen set of rules and rituals, but a God who truly chooses to spend time with us. And I love the ending which, even though I saw it coming a mile off, still made me cry.
If you're as stubborn as me, you've probably not got around to reading this book yet. They're starting to sell it cheap in the book-stores now, so please go out and buy one or borrow one. Set aside some time to read it. You'll be glad you did.
Book Review: Just buy it
Summary: 5 Stars
First I should say that fiction is not my genre of choice. I am normally a "baby" theological type reader with an occasional Karen Kingsbury thrown in as an escape. However, when I do read my usual fare I will even fluctuate on my preferred authors. If I am wanting something a bit light, but with a good lesson or two and some pretty witty sayings I will pick up something by Max Lucado. Then, if I choose to go just a bit deeper I will turn to John Ortberg, I always enjoy the analogies that he weaves into his lessons. And when I think I can handle the even deeper stuff I bravely pick up something by Philip Yancy, although sometimes I find my self re-reading a passage or two and thinking, "What was that again?"
I sometimes find though that all of these authors share a common theme: Do this or that and you will be a better Christian. Memorize these cute alliterative sayings or take these steps and you will finally have a deeper relationship with God. Well, I guess I am not much for all the steps involved (patience is not one of my virtues) because I just want to jump to the end result and have a deeper relationship with God.
This book, The Shack, has simply blown me away. This book seems to have been written by Max Lucado, John Ortberg, Philip Yancy, and GOD all at once. Not to sound sacrilegious there, but there is something about this book that makes me wonder how any human on this earth could have such knowledge and depth of insight. I think Paul's prayer for the Philippians (Philippians 1:9) was answered in William P. Young, because he has a great handle on what love and relationship are supposed to look like. I will say that I know this book, or any book for that matter can never replace or be a substitute for The Bible, but I also know that this book has done more for my understanding of who God is and has increased my desire to know Him more that any book other than the Bible ever has.
I will not get into anything here that would spoil the plot, but I will say that this book is so much more than the fiction story that underlines its main purpose. This is not "fluff fiction". This is a very purposeful work of fiction written in order to reveal great truths. William P. Young is an incredibly gifted author and has challenged my thinking and understanding beyond what I could imagine. He has caused me to think about things I thought I knew and has me seeking to know even more.
At times you may feel this book is a difficult read, and I agree that the plot is a tough one to deal with. Further reading causes you to realize that such a plot is necessary to fully understand the main theme of the book. I am currently on my second reading and feel I will immediately read it again when I am finished. The worst part about this book, is I want to share it with everyone, yet I am selfishly reading it again and do not want to part with it. I very smartly took the advice of others from the get go and ordered two copies. This has allowed me to keep one and share one. I have since ordered three more copies and I know I will soon order more. So, my advice is to just go ahead and order 10 or 12 copies. It is that good.