The Shack, Book Review

What a great book! As one who has had the privilege of teaching others theology, I can honestly say that I appreciate what the author was trying to do with this book, namely, to address the pervasive problem of Evil. At its core the premise and the content of this book are well-founded and Scriptural. While the author took great poetic license with the distinctive persons in the Trinity, I considered it tasteful and well done while accentuating in more than one place the same thing the early Church fathers stated at the council of Nicea in 325. That is, there is one essence "ousia", many hypostases, "persons". There is unity in the Godhead, never division. I found the description of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit to all be consistent with Scripture. While I disagreed with the blanket anger toward the institutional church made by the main character, I certainly understand that to be a foundational worldview in the narcissistic world we find ourselves in, and who I believe is the target audience. The initial trauma of the story was troubling to read, but so is Evil in our midst. The descriptions of God's grace, the evil of judging and legalism, and the hope of the future were absolutely fantastic. How a legalistic person who has issue with God can read the scene of the main character being placed as judge over God without questioning their own personal worldview, is beyond me. I am thankful for the widespread readership of this book and it's potential to reach many people who are angry at God and far from the faith. What are the major lessons learned from this book? I see several.


1. God can be trusted
2. God's purposes are perpetually too complex to understand
3. God's love is endless
4. God's enthusiasm for His plan of redemption is paramount
5. The presence of Evil in this world is predicated on the fact that the end of the ages has not yet come.
6. God is present with us.
7. People and sin are the obstacle, not God.
8. Jesus is the absolute only way to heaven.


The only troubling phrase I found theologically in the book came from "Jesus" stating that he seeks to get to people through every means (In a discussion about do all roads lead to the same God). While the book affirmed the centrality of Christ, it left open the possibility that Christ could be found within the pursuits of other world religions. An unlikely notion at best, as other traditions deny the efficacy of Christ (1 Corinthians 15) being fully God and Man, and able by his resurrection to save those that believe.
While I certainly would affirm from Scripture that God is working to reach every lost person there is with the Good News of Christ, I would never affirm participation in other world religions as a vehicle to God any more than participating in the sin nature leads to grace. I'm reminded of Paul's question to the Romans in Chapter 6:
Romans 6:1-2
1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
[1] The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996, c1984. (NIV)


While I certainly agree with the potential of Eugene Peterson's endorsement, I'm inclined to think that this will function much like C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity as an "emotional apologetic" for those struggling with God's love and power vs. their loss.


As C.S. Lewis so rightly observed,


God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains:


His voice is loud and clear in The Shack

Learning is Difficult

Learning is Difficult

I learned something new today. What it is doesn't matter. Was it beneficial? Yes. Am I glad I learned it? Of course I am. Do I want to put forth the effort to learn something else right now? NO. Why? I wonder? It's because learning is difficult. How is this the case, and in what way might one say that learning is difficult? Please let me explain. First, you have to acknowledge that you are ignorant. (Not stupid or dumb, just ignorant). Now, I don't have any problem understanding others as ignorant (without knowledge), in fact, there are times that I prefer to understand a situation resulting from the "lack of knowledge". In fact it was Hosea who said "My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6). Learning starts there though….like recovery, we have to admit that we have a problem. This is difficult for most of us. Next, we have to want to find a solution. Oh yes many are stuck here. They don't want a solution. Some call it drive, others might think of it as goal-oriented. Whatever your label, you have to "want to" fix it. I don't know the song, but I remember the faculty meeting I was in where a music professor was trying to introduce a song and, since it was written at the turn of the century during the growth of the Pentecostal movement, there was a phrase he didn't understand: "Since I got my 1, 2 fixed"…..one of the other professors was amused at this and said, "that would be "Want to" ….Ohhhhhh! "That makes more sense: "Since I got my "want to" fixed. True that. Here is where learning goes to the next level. First we've admitted we're ignorant, then we get our "want to" fixed, then, well, then it's time to find the answer. Christians can get happy at this point. The biblical language about "seeking" is wonderful (Proverbs 8:17, Jeremiah 29:13, Luke 12:31, Luke 19:10, Colossians 3:1, Hebrews 11:6). It's in the changing of the "want to" and the "seeking" where all the work is. Then finally there is the effort to save it, understand it, and do it. Many times that's fun when the "application" takes place. This is what Milton Gregory meant when he described the powerful tool of "association"…. "the Unknown Must be Explicable in Terms of the Known". Do I intend to learn something else soon? Yes. I'll embrace and face the fact that difficulty is often the pathway to success. In learning, in growing, in life.