In an effort to expand my reading comprehension and enjoyment I joined a bookclub. One of the first books read was “ The Shack “.  I found it very interesting, though there is an extremely sad portion I wanted to avoid (because I avoid sad situations) but while tragic it was not gory (as it would have been had today’s tv or movie writers done it). 

I came away with one exciting revelation from this fiction novel; God wants a relationship with me. The others in the group all came away with the same thought and we thoroughly enjoyed the book and the way it protrayed this relationship. The Shack is a fiction novel and we read it as such.

I was surprised, then, when I started reading reviews on the book.  It seems people are reading this book as “The Gospel” instead of fictional “The Shack”.   The story tells of Mac going to a shack where tragedy struck his family. Here he meets God in the form of large black women named ”papa’.  As separate characters you also meet Jesus and the Holy Spirit. While three separate characters they also appear in relationship as one. 

Author WIlliam P. Young takes us through an inviting weekend where he speaks directly with God and gets close to Him, talking about all kinds of things. He asks many questions.  He develops a close knit relationship with God. It is this that God desires most.

This book should in no way be considered a replacement of the Bible. It is an interesting read, but as my friend Fawn Brents says “If you want to know what the Bible says, read the Bible, not books about the Bible”.

I recommend the book as a fictional novel, just like the “ Left Behind ” series. While story ideas may come from an interpretation of the Bible, they are novels written for reading entertainment.  I do, however, disagree with Eugene Peterson who endorses the book with the words “this book has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress did for his”.  Sorry, Mr. Peterson, but with all due respect, it is not of that caliber.

So my recommendation: read it make up your own mind as to the authenticity or fictionality of “The Shack”. 

Other reviews of this book may be found at:

Christianity Today dot com

Christianity Today Blog

Breakpoint dot org

The Shack Mackenzie Allen Philip’s youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation, and evidence that she might have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later, in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment, he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack’s world forever. In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant The Shack wrestles with the timeless question, “Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?” The answers Mack gets will astound you, and perhaps transform you as much as it did him. You’ll want everyone you know to read this book!