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Christianity Today, August, 2008 |

Reading in Good Faith

The Shack is a tale of tragedy redeemed, not a theological treatise.

Derek R. Keefe | posted 7/10/2008 09:23AM

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Yet Young's book has clearly struck a nerve, likely with those who have been burned by deep tragedy, bad church experiences, and churchgoers who consistently misrepresent Christ. Judging from The Shack's continued sales and largely glowing reviews, this is a sizable group.

Showing good faith to Young and his empathetic readers means demonstrating pastoral as well as prophetic concern in engaging the book. If all we do is pounce on theological errors without first taking the time to understand the story behind them, we will only confirm the opinions of the church and its representatives that Young and fans of his book already hold.

Reading between the lines, I see a formerly troubled soul who's made peace with God about his past, but is still not at peace with the church. I'd love to see the book become an occasion for open conversation with "spiritual but not religious" folks burned by church experience. Here's an opportunity to show good faith—to Christ, his church, and her teachings; to authors and their work; and to readers who rejoice in learning they are not alone.

Derek R. Keefe is assistant editor at Christianity Today.

Related Elsewhere:

Download chapter one of The Shack by William P. Young, free from Oasis Audio and powered by Audible.com.

The book and audio versions of The Shack are available from ChristianBook.com and other retailers.

The book's website has a readable version of chapter 1.

Cindy Crosby reviewed the book.

Collin Hansen discussed The Shack's depiction of the Trinity in "The Trinity: So What?"

USA Today reported on criticisms of The Shack's theology.

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August 2008, Vol. 52, No. 8

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Kevin

Posted: July 17, 2008 10:06 AM

The author pictures the Father bearing crucifixion scars as well as being incarnated in tandem with the Holy Spirit. Not only so, but he pontificates that Jesus has never drawn upon His nature as God to do anything. Of course those who have read the Bible even once will immediately recognize the falsity of that statement, particularly with respect to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The author also has Jesus - the Jew with the big nose - declaring "I am not a Christian and I have no desire to make them" - and the them is Buddhists, Mormons, Muslims, etc. - "Christians." Indeed, Young describes Christians as religious fanatics and part of a sinful world system. Of course in sharp distinction the followers of Christ adopted the word "Christian" in the midst of suffering and persecution. You can see examples of that in the Book of Acts written by Luke or by Peter, such as 1 Peter 4:16.

merry

Posted: July 15, 2008 11:22 AM


I thought the book was very moving and gave a person pause to think about his own faith, look at the world we live in, and God's instruction for us to love one another. If everyone would have this kind of love, what a wonderful world we would live in. I guess now we just have to wait for God's kingdom for that kind of love, or do we?............

Cody	Posted: July 15, 2008 11:08 AM


You must read wind blown medias defense of the shack titled "Is The Shack Heresy" in it you will find that the Authors wrote everything they know about God in it and the writing of the book actually helped shape the theology of all three involved. So yes this book can be used to test the theology of the Authors and publishers.

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