Book Review: The Shack

I’ve just finished my first subway book. Whenever I go on the subway I take a book with me to read. And I’ve hardly been back in Korea now for three weeks, and in the little time I spent since my return I got to finish this book which I bought shortly after my arrival.

The Shack, by William P. Young, is sure to become one of those Christian Classics. It has already been compared to John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. I’m not fond of reading so-called Christian novels, but after hearing from reliable sources that this book resembles much of my own theology I decided to read it. And I am really glad I did. The Shack is a fantastical book (not as in “fantastic”, but as in “fantasy”), although it seems to claim to be biographical. I read it as an allegory.

The Shack recounts the experience of a man that spends a weekend with God – a big African-American women (among other manifestations) – in a shack. The interactions are often humorous. Which is a good thing as the age old religious dilemma – If God is good, why does bad things happen – is not an easy topic.

Let me start with the negatives. Personally I think The Shack is not really good literature. It might just be my background as a literature major that had exposed me to so much great literature that The Shack seems amateurish. And from my vantage point as a creative writing major, I could see that the author tried too hard. The metaphors seem forced at times. My creative writing professor always said after you’ve drawn a picture of a donkey, don’t write underneath it: “A donkey”. And this is exactly what Young does too often. If there is sarcasm in the dialogue he would add: Said he sarcastically. This might just be a personal peeve, but I found it distracting.

On the other hand, the picture Young portrays of God is beautiful. It is indeed the view I’ve come to except of God through personal wrestling with the topic. It is the view of God that gets me excited when I talk about God and I’m glad that many more people will get an opportunity to see God in this way. The book downplays (even scorns) the role of religion and asserts the importance of relationship instead. (It is therefore quite in tune with postmodern sensibilities.) The importance of freedom of choice to insure the existence of love (because love can only exist where there is freedom to choose to love or not) is emphasized.

I have two personal theological concerns with the book. The first regards the idea of the dead being “alive” somewhere (presumably heaven). A thorough study of the Bible does not support the notion that the souls/spirits of people usually go to heaven (or hell) after death, but rather that they “sleep” until the resurrection.

Secondly, the book seems to hold strongly to the penal justification/substitution atonement theory. Which is of course a Biblical view and the one upheld by most protestants traditions. But penal substitution (the idea that Jesus paid the penalty of our sins on the Cross on our behalf) is one of many atonement theories, and which I think should not be overemphasized in place of the other Biblical atonement theories. What God (in Christ) did for humanity is a mystery that will keep the universe in contemplation for eternity. All these atonement theories are merely metaphors that give us a glimpse into different aspects of Christ’s ministry. Overemphasising one atonement theory is bound to give a skewed image of God.

I would still suggest people to read this book. After all, the book is a novel and do not pretend to be a dogmatic exegesis. There are probably a number or erroneous "theology" in the book, however, The Shack can quickly convey an image of God that took me years to discover.