Review of The Shack by Wm. Paul Young

I just finished reading the novel, The Shack: Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity by Wm. Paul Young. A friend recommended I read it. He told me he had read part of it already and that it involved a conversation between this man and God (who was protrayed in the novel initially as a large African-American woman). That was about all he told me. And, being the person I am, I could not resist reading a novel that portayed God as an African-American woman - intriguing. I am always up for a challenge and for rethinking my assumptions and beliefs. As a matter of fact, a great quote from the book deals with just that - challenging our assumptions about God. Young has his God character say,

Just because you believe something firmly doesn't make it true. Be willing to re-examine what you believe. The more you live in the truth, the more your emotions will help you see clearly. But even then, you don't want to trust them more than me.

And this is exactly what happens. Assumptions are definitely challenged. The book is about a man named MacKenzie Allen Phillips who, while on vacation with his kids, leaves one child to go save another from drowning only to return to find his daughter, Missy, gone. He discovers she has been abucted and likely violently murdered in an old shack in the woods and her body is not found. As you begin reading the story, it seems to be the typical story of loss, personal pain, questioning God, and somehow, redemption (if one can experience redemption after such a horrible experience). As the story unfolds, however, it takes on a more mysterious nature in that Mac receives a note in his mail box, presumably from God inviting him back to the shack where his daughter was killed. He goes.

From there, Mac's world slams into the personification of God in the Trinity. They appear to him as God the Father (an African-American woman), God the Son (a middle-aged Jewish carpenter type) and God the Holy Spirit (a petite Asian woman). Mac's wife had always referred to God as "Papa," and because of Mac's bad experience with his own father, and his current questioning of God and all that he has assumed God to be, God the Father thinks it important to appear to him as something other than that which Mac grew up hating. From here, Mac is provided an experience beyond what he could have ever hoped and one for which he never would have asked. He enters into conversations with all three relational parts of the Trinity and has experiences that lead him ultimately to be reconciled to God, himself, his family, and especially his murdered daughter, Missy.

Mac struggles with the personifications of God he meets because he has many assumptions about how they interact and relate to one another in terms of being. The Holy Spirit, Sarayu by name in the book, explains to MacKenzie:

...we have no concept of final authority among us, only unity. We are a circle of relationship, not a chain of command or "great chain of being," as your ancestors termed it. What you are seeing here is relationship without any overlay of power. We don't need power over the other because we are always looking out for the best. Hierarchy would make no sense among us. Actually, this is your problem, not ours." (p. 122 paperback edition)

The Spirit makes it clear that everything that God does, all that God is, is wrapped up in each element of the trinitarian relationship. It's not like Jesus and the Spirit come up with an idea and pass it by God the Father and God the Father makes a decision as to whether to go with that or not. There are no power plays, no manipulation, no reward/punishment in the trinitarian relationship. There is only love. Young has his personification of God the Father, the African-American woman, say, My purposes are always and only an expression of love. (p. 190). And in this Mac struggles, because if God's "purposes are always and only an expression of love," then why did this tragedy happen to his daughter and his family. Even in the midst of Mac's anger and questioning, Young has "Papa" say what I think is one of my favorite lines in the whole book, My love is a lot bigger than your stupidity. Why is this my favorite line? Well, I think because we often think we have God all figured out. We have created our boxes of what we are willing to accept or reject about God and anyone who begins to open our box to let the real God out by asking challenging questions, having different assumptions, or sharing different experiences, we often lash out at them and try to almost demonize them for seeing God differently.

There are a variety of blogs that review this book and take on Young's theology. Some respectfully, others not. I think Christians need to be thoughtful about their faith and how they interpret things, but I also think we need to see the book for what it is - a novel with some inspiring, interesting ideas about what we might hope God to be or need God to be in our lives. The critics will say, "but this is not biblical. It's heresy. It's universalists." And in other blogs and reviews about it, you will see those charges. Well, you just have to recognize that this book should not be viewed as a theological treatise, despite fears about it.

Whether anyone thinks Young is disguising The Shack as the next great theological treatise on the Trinity or not, it's a compelling story, with compelling thoughts and reflections going through his mind based on his personal life experience. And isn't that really the place from which we all share who we are, what our struggles are, what we hope to be, and what we hope we can come to terms with in our own lives. I don't see God cringing about this novel. I'm sure just like our little boxes in which we trap God with our own beliefs and misguided understandings, Young is in the same boat. We all theologize and interpret out what we understand the Bible to be and what it has to say to us. Even those who know the Greek, Hebrew, Armaic, and understand all there is to know about why this gospel writer wrote that and to whom and why they wrote it, and those who have all the knowledge they can possibly have about the Bible, to suggest any person has God (and of all things, the Trinity) all figured out, is only fooling themselves. I think it makes more sense to have an ongoing, forming, relationship with God, like what is happening in The Shack, as opposed to a contractual obligation where believing the stuff others say about God is the only way to have that connection. Signing contracts about the rules you'll follow is about institutions. Choosing to believe and pick up our cross daily is about relationship and trust. I think The Shack gets at this division well and tries to emphasize relationship vs. rules. I don't trust rules because they change like the wind as circumstances change, but I do trust God and know that he will love me and show me grace when I get it right and when I get wrong. In the end, we work through it all, in relationship.

I would recommend reading this book. As others have written about it, it is not the greatest novel ever and there is a great deal of theological dialogue to wade through. However, it has its inspirational and challenging moments for us to consider how we see tragedy, pain, love, and how God in the trinitarian relationship might speak to our questions and needs. It is ultimately about redemption, reconciliation, trust, and acceptance. Hopefully it will cause you to consider your own life and relationships, particulary your relationship with God.