The Shack

This book was a God-send. I have been battling mysterious health issues since July 08, my father was placed in hospice and died of prostate cancer stage d in September 08 (I was at his side when he died), my daughter left an emotionally abusive husband that same month and now there is a fierce intra-state custody battle (the guy's trying to take my granddaughter using the reason that my daughter is type I diabetic and can't care for her. In other words, life recently hit me like a ton of bricks. I haven't been a church going or paying much attention to my faith for decades. This book was recommended to me. The discussion about anxiety over the future on page 142 caused me to put the book down and slap my forehead. I then went out back under the beautiful Arizona night sky and got on my knees.

I don't care what anyone is saying/writing about the theological issues with this book. I think it's a beautiful work and maybe the most important novel I've ever read - and I read a lot. Young certainly isn't a John Steinbeck or Harper Lee when it comes to writing skills but the guy doesn't really consider himself a fiction writer anyway. It's still a very readable book. My other favorite novels are To Kill a Mockingbird, East of Eden and The Grapes of Wrath.

As far as life goes, I always thought I could be the Atticus Finch type and go it alone. Be a good man, have a good family and face the harsh things that life brings. I was so wrong and I'm so thankful this book was recommended to me.

Something I thought was interesting, every time I came up with a "yeah, but..." the author answered the question within a paragraph or two! This happened several times while I went through the book. I read all but the last 20 pages in a single sitting.

With so many people losing faith in organized religion, this is a refreshing look at what being a Follower of Jesus Christ is.
It's not about YOU, it's about GOD and a very personal RELATIONSHIP with Him. A relationship that takes you through the absolute worse including forgiving what most find unforgiveable, but learning that we are called to forgive so God can do His work in their lives.
With down to earth, everyday happenings you can understand , especially for a "seeker".
WE are God's Church, His children and He does love even us, NO MATTER WHAT.A building does NOT make a Christian nor a Church. With all the "man made rules and man made doctrines" how can anyone expect to learn the true LOVE of God?
Written in a way that takes you through what a lot of us feel or think in our lives everyday. Dealing with real life issues and coming through forever changed.
This book is NOT about theology, but a real life experience that cuts no slack. God IS love and yes, He Loves Even YOU!!!

Good book. I had heard so many positive things about it and how it was changing lives etc, etc,. As good a story as it was it was not life changing material. For a nonbeliever however, I could see where it may be very effective.

This was such a beautiful book. Ordinarily I avoid books that are immensely popular with Christians. I was burned by the shallowness of The Purpose Driven Life and the greediness inherent in The Prayer of Jabez. I was disgusted by the poor theology of the Left Behind series. But here, I find a book that is simultaneously popular, deep, beautiful, and orthodox.

I loved the image of God here, and of the Trinity. It is so hard to write a convincing God. It seems easier to write a convincing demon, perhaps because we often spend more time focused on the works of Satan rather than those of God. It is even harder to write a convincing Trinity, that mystery of mysteries. But Young largely pulls this off.

I say largely because the weakest point of this book is the dialogue, which often times comes off stilted and unreal. Like George MacDonald, this is better story than writing. But the story is so fabulous...it is unreal in the sense of the superreal, in the sense of the numinous, that moment when we know we can never fear, but must fear.

There are times when I had to question the theology that was expressed. But remember, this is not supposed to be an all-encompassing theological truth. No one book has the entire truth in it. It is only part of the truth, only one side. "The Shack" reveals something that this post-modern generation needs to hear. It is a Gospel for our times. It is not the whole Gospel, and does not claim to be.

But even when I found theology I disagreed with, I was forced to question my own theology, and come to new understandings. And that, after all, is what mystery is for: we are called to savor mystery, to continually question, to grow; saved not through works or sola fideo, but rather sola morphe, the change that Jesus calls everyone to if they want to follow Him. And I'm still working on if Jesus would accidentally spill a souffle all over the floor.

Perhaps its because Young is a TCK, growing up overseas with a stone-age trip in Papua New Guinea, but he has a decidedly different perspective on both life and God, and one I can well relate to as a TCK myself. There were so many times when this book reached directly to me, within my soul, and I had to end it with tears. This is a book that forces you to dwell on and consider. This is what Grace is. This is what Grace is. And ultimately, I believe you may find that it is only reasonable that God is a big beautiful black woman.

told by a master story teller. It is written with so much passion...his words cannot help evoke feeling in all his readers. A thriller with a religious undertone that keeps you on the edge of your seat and sad when it all ends. Loved this book...A++++