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The Shack Phenomenon
The Shack deserves its word-of-mouth reputation as a compelling example of inspirational fiction.
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I am a crank in good company on the subject of bad liturgy, so let me add that The Shack offers a whole feast of implications to sift through.
Take, for example, repeated warnings about the folly of “choosing independence over relationship.” A Protestant can read those lines and think “Amen! Eyes on the prize, baby!” A Catholic can react the same way, and then wonder whether that advice might also be understood as an indictment of the denominational free-for-all that has fractured Christian unity for more than five hundred years. That Young almost certainly meant nothing of the sort matters little to thinking along the lines of “You had visible ‘relationship’ with each other through unity with the papacy for 1,500 years, and now look what you did!”
Even God’s “great fondness for uncertainty” and emphatic willingness (in this novel) to “take a verb over a noun anytime” may trace back to sixteenth-century Christians who rolled dice on the action of the Holy Spirit rather than on the person at the head of an increasingly corrupt church, thus turning every Christian into his or her own pope.
In a missed opportunity of epic proportions, Mack shares a meal of bread and wine with God just before leaving The Shack, but because Young is non-Catholic and adamant about the lack of ceremony and ritual at that meal, nothing is said about the Holy Eucharist as the most obvious and powerful of several ways that Jesus continues to be with His Church.
However parochial it sounds, that omission and the aforementioned criticisms keep The Shack from ascending to the heights of spiritual classics like Teresa of Avila’s Interior Castle. Yet it is also important to concede that highlighting the ironies wasted on Young and some of his critics pays diminishing returns over time: in the end it is more charitable and more accurate to say that both have performed a public service.
The novel cannot be called lectio divina, but it is inspiring. Despite its flaws, The Shack has thought-provoking things to say about forgiveness, freedom, evil, and love.
While William Young does not handle Christian faith with the deft touch of master storytellers like Michael O’Brien, Graham Greene, and Shusaku Endo, his first novel is better and more ambitious than many of the other books in its genre. Moreover, I am especially fond of the friends who recommended The Shack to me. Read it — and then go back to the gospel.
About the Author
Patrick O’Hannigan is a writer in North Carolina.
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Ryan| 1.13.09 @ 8:30AM
Your last line was the best one - "read it, then go back to the gospel." The Shack is the type of book that is almost taken too seriously, but it is something that we need to listen to the critics.
I'm what most would consider "reformed," and my theology tends to bend towards that direction. I get your Catholicism - to a point - but I think that I take issue that reverence and awe of the Lord can only come from very specific instances in the church building. I'm not going to debate Protestantism vs. Catholicism here - that's not for strangers - but the more that I experience and study different examples of the Faith I find that there is only one real root behind it all - the Gospel that I am fallen and only a Holy God can lift me up.
It's something that I think that far too many Christians are losing amidst the megachurch movement (with its insistence on a great term called "moralistic therapeutic deism") that ignores the core of the human condition, and the lack of insistence that Christians - or those who claim to be one - actually understand their faith and sit down and read a book about doctrine once in a while.
Quartermaster| 1.15.09 @ 7:48PM
"The Shack" is so polluted with pop psychology and theological tripe it is not worth reading. One does not have to be a Calvinist to razz this book.
A few examples:
1. The relationship among the trinity is so unbiblical it is nauseous.
2. Jesus is just another wussy metrosexual type, when in actuality he was one of the toughest and most intellectually consistent person to ever walk the face of the earth. He showed the Pharisees how they were wrong, and rubbed their faces in it. All the while, he accepted the broken and contrite and forgave when asked.
3. The novel is shot through with universalism. Not everyone is going to be saved, and sin is not its own punishment. People that do not accept Christ will be consigned to the lake of fire. No if, ands, or buts.
There is much more, but I don't wish to write an encyclopedia on biblical theology. The book may be "inspirational" but it is not Christian, and even one of my theological opponents, Albert Mohler (who espouses Hellenistic philosophy as theology) is correct about the book. It is heresy, and accepting the picture of God in "the Shack" will feed through everything else in your life and will lead you to hell.
Dave | 6.12.09 @ 11:06AM
Grain of Salt, QMaster. Your comment misses the point of The Shack's effort to steer our didactic overintellectualization of Christian Theology, and approach the Father from an authentic personal view, not veiled or colored through the legalist lens. Its a story, we dont have to treat every spiritual story as heresy requiring burning at the stake.
Lighten up and enjoy the fricken story. See if maybe an insight or two about relationship mechanics are worthy practice. Its all we have thats lasting.
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I’ll have a Poptropica full written walkthrough very soon, but in the meantime, here are some answers to some of the frequently asked questions about Mythology Island. Having trouble? Post a question in the comments and I’ll try to answer it!
Getting Hercules to Help You
Hercules won’t help you until you have all five items from Zeus’ quest. Once you have the five items, bring them to Athena. Zeus will appear and steal them. The big jerk! Once this happens, talk to Athena and she will tell you that Hercules will help you. You’ll need to have the magic mirror from Aphrodite because Hercules doesn’t want to have to walk. He’s so lazy!
Getting the Hydra Scale
You can see how to do this in the videos, but basically you need to jump up when the Hydra is about to strike. He will rear one of his heads back to attack and his eyes will bulge out. When this happens, jump up in the air and then try to land on top of his head. That head will get knocked out. When all five heads get knocked out, the Hydra will be asleep and you can click on him to get one of the scales. I’ll have a full written walkthrough very soon, but in the meantime, here are some answers to some of the frequently asked questions about Mythology Island. Having trouble? Post a question in the comments and I’ll try to answer it!
Getting Hercules to Help You
Hercules won’t help you until you have all five items from Zeus’ quest. Once you have the five items, bring them to Athena. Zeus will appear and steal them. The big jerk! Once this happens, talk to Athena and she will tell you that Hercules will help you. You’ll need to have the magic mirror from Aphrodite because Hercules doesn’t want to have to walk. He’s so lazy!
Getting the Hydra Scale
You can see how to do this in the videos, but basically you need to jump up when the Hydra is about to strike. He will rear one of his heads back to attack and his eyes will bulge out. When this happens, jump up in the air and then try to land on top of his head. That head will get knocked out. When all five heads get knocked out, the Hydra will be asleep and you can click on him to get one of the scales. Poptropica