Back to the Shack

We are covering William P Young's book The Shack in our church fellowship group. As we go along I will post excerpts from our discussions if I think there is anything worth sharing. However first I will give my initial take on the book:

Eugene Peterson has ranked The Shack with Pilgrim's Progress in its impact; however I think such a judgment premature in spite of the book's popularity. I would compare it instead to C.W. Sheldon's In His Steps: theologically incomplete but presenting an important truth; very popular for a season but destined to fall into obscurity until perhaps a later generation rediscovers it for a time. Move over, Prayer of Jabez.

More important than the book itself is what believers' reaction to it says about the state of the Body. It has obviously touched a nerve; the the novel has gone through our Christian community like wildfire and Mack's struggles speak to many people I know. The message to me is this: that there are many wounded believers out there and the church as a whole is not ministering to them. Many are alienated as Mack is in the book and are no longer attending fellowship; many others are still attending and doing the right churchy things, but they are inwardly alienated and their heart is no longer in it.

I have felt increasingly burdened by this state of affairs locally for some time. Just as Jesus sent His disciples to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, I wonder who will He send to the lost sheep of the house of Canmore? Or Calgary? Or Medicine Hat?

There are some sweeping statements made by the Godhead characters in The Shack which are inconsistent with Scripture as I understand it. I will touch on them but not major in them; there are much keener doctrinal eagles than I on the internet already picking at the novel's entrails. Exploring The Shack in our group I think will really mean exploring the heart issues I see in the Body and that this book addresses.

One thing I will add: I have been to Paul Young's website and by the long queues of adulatory comments there it appears that The Shack is well on its way to gathering a cult of its own. It appears that to many Paul is a surrogate pastor - almost a guru of sorts. He will need much grace not to lose his spiritual equilibrium.