"The Shack" has a great many good qualities and a few very dangerous
ones. It is a simply written, highly imaginative, vividly portrayed
sketch of a man's individual spiritual journey to wholeness in the face
of very real, extraordinarily difficult circumstances. If for nothing
else, this book is to be commended for taking what may be the rawest
kind of life circumstances and dealing with their very real and lasting
effects on our spiritual and emotional person. What it states, very
powerfully, is that through Christ, men and women can find peace after
great horror.
Furthermore, as a pastor and Seminary instructor, I can say that
this author has a wonderful gift for presenting very difficult
theological concepts in a carefully accessible manner. His presentation
of the what it means to be in union with Christ, the manner in which
God's love transforms an individual (regeneration) and that which
theologians call "the covenant of redemption", the purpose and economy
of the Triune God in accomplishing the Divine purpose in history, is
quite impressive.
These things make this book very powerful and, with adequate precautions, very useful for lay instruction and illustration.
Then there is the dangerous side. First, and perhaps most
important, is the significant imbalance of the portrait of God painted
in it. Though never quite expressed, the book pretty much affirms
universal salvation. Surprisingly, it is man who is in the judgment
seat in this portrayal, God having already judged all men as guilty but
also having forgiven them and reconciled them to Himself. The
scriptural bounds on this position are not adequately expressed at all.
In this book God is overly sentimental and simplified. There is no hint
of God as He is presented in (say) the book of Judges. The God of the
universe, Jesus His Son and the Holy Spirit are not very far removed
from Seinfield and Friends in their mannerisms and interaction.
Certainly some of this is acknowledged as God's condescension to man in
appearing to him in such a way as to minister to him, but it is very
over done.
Further there is the unscriptural and, in my opinion, quite wrong,
portrayal of the Trinity. Though he strives to avoid this, the author
skirts the edge of idolatry. There is a reason why God commanded that
we are to make no graven images of His person. It is because all such
images will not only fall short of accuracy but will in fact lead us
astray. The portrayal of God the Father in the images in this book is a
serious departure from this general rule and is quite prone to
distortion. I do not believe that we are free to play with the
metaphors God uses to describe Himself nor that we are free to downplay
some of His attributes in preference to others. There is more than a
little of this in this book.
Though the author strives for balance yet he falls short of
presenting Jesus as pre-eminent in the life of man. Jesus is not
central in his presentation though it is often stated that He is
central in God's understanding. God the Father and the Holy Spirit are
more so. Here again the metaphors work against the author. Both God the
Father and the Holy Spirit are portrayed as warm, empathetic women who
are naturally more easily empathetic. Jesus comes across as wonderful
but a bit bumbling in his humanity and thus loved and loving but a bit
less wonderful. This is a serious problem to me.
Next, evil in this book is entirely a result of man's choosing
autonomy for himself and all misery in this world flows from that.
Certainly, this is true in one sense but not in every sense. The person
of Satan is entirely absent from this portrayal. So is any hint that
God regards any one person, no matter what their spiritual state, any
differently than others. Evil is presented as negation, the absence of
good, rather than a positive force. There is truth in this but not the
whole truth.
Lastly, this author falls seriously short in his understanding of
the Church and the place of organized Christianity in the Kingdom of
God. This regrettable tendency is rampant in our culture and is
conducive to a very stilted Christianity, far short of that picture
painted for us in Scriptures. God in this book comes perilously close
to endorsing all religious feelings and sentiments, whether Christian
or not, as pathways to Himself. I cannot comprehend how the author
could allow this.
All in all, again, this book has much to commend it. The
commendable things are self-evident in the reading and I have not
commented on them as much because of that. The things which detract
from the book are not so evident and hence, in my estimation, much more
dangerous because of it. It must be read with caution.
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