So I’m well aware that this conversation is probably two years past due.
I finished reading the mega-hit book, “The Shack” almost a year ago. Since then, I’ve heard the author, William Paul Young, speak twice in person. Yet even after all of that I’ve had difficulty forming definite opinions about the book. The story paints a fantastic picture of God’s love–especially in the midst of suffering–but I still had a queasy feeling after reading it. I felt that there were some subtle, yet serious, doctrinal errors about God in the book. “The Shack” surely wasn’t marketed as a book of systematic theology, yet still there is danger when any bestseller paints pictures of God, fictional or not. This is because, for many people, this fictional image of God may be the only one they’re ever exposed to.
So if you write about God, you should seek to do it right.
I’ve read many reviews of the book, and most of them–especially the ones from Christian polemicists–come down hard on the book and the author, essentially preparing the wood and stake for a heretic burning. Others, find little to no fault in the material and claim it to be nothing more than a wonderful work of fiction. I tend to fall somewhere between the two groups.
So with all of that said, a couple of weeks ago I came across what is probably the most agreeable review of “The Shack” I have yet found. It was written by Tim Keller, a popular writer (“The Prodigal God” and “The Reason For God”) and pastor of a large Presbyterian church in New York.
Check out Tim’s review here. What did you think of this book?