Gadfly's Muse

Powerful But Dangerous - a Review of "The Shack"

"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.

The Path Less Traveled....

[photo - DJohanson, 2008]

This extraordinary photograph so captures the eye that that mind is immediately drawn into it.  The pathway is not smooth, it is narrow and apparently treacherous, but the promise of the horizon in the distance is that treasures await at the end.  It is as if there is a gentle voice that calls one onward.  "Keep coming, keep going, one step in front of the other.  Enjoy the beauty that is all around you but nothing compares to the beauty that lies ahead."

Jesus, of course, used this idea of a "narrow path" in his illustration of the two "ways" of this dispensation.  There is that path, often and numerously trod, that is wide and easy to walk.  It's delights are entirely ephemeral and deceitful.  The prospects of its horizon are murky at best because the promises of that road cannot ever be fulfilled.  Fleshly pleasures pass, all too quickly, and, in the dark moments in between, the nagging suspicion of their emptiness causes many a worried eye to scan the horizon ahead for assurance.  But none are forthcoming.

The other "way" of this eon, is the strenuous uphill path with many stones to turn your ankle and the solemn reality of a steep crossing incline that threatens both above and below.  Here, the way is not crowded for few there are that walk it, but in the words of the old song, they never "walk alone."  The comforts along this path are real but not to be mistaken with those fleshly ones of the other path.  There is an austere beauty, a sharp severity to life on this walk.  The cool air is bracing but induces the shivers.  The awesome vistas constantly inspire the mind but they also constantly remind us of our relative puniness.  

But always, there is the promise of the horizon.  The sharp line of the summit where the road turns downward and easy to walk.  Where the view is complete and we know even as we are fully known and the mountain of delight communicates its truth, gorgeous and eternal, to our every sense.

Such are the thoughts that come to mind as I ponder this image and I do not think the meditation is too far removed from Jesus' intent in forming His metaphor which seems so self-evident.

Keep walking... it is and always will be, worth it.