The Shack

"You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or in the earth beneath or in the waters below" (Deuteronomy 5:8).


People know about the Trinity, but they only have a vague understanding of the relationship between The Father, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus. "The Shack" gave me a greater understanding of how God can be the Trinity at the same time. I also gained a greater understanding of what "God is love" really means. ~customer review on Amazon


The Shack is a fascinating phenomenon for a person like me who works in the publishing industry. By all rights, no one should have heard of this low-budget, self-published novel by first-time Oregon author William Young, but the book has defied all the rules and sits comfortably at the top of the bestseller lists. And that's what first captured my attention about this novel and made me so curious that I wanted to read it.

The novel has been praised by notables like Eugene Peterson and Michael W. Smith, but it has been condemned by evangelical leaders such as Albert Mohler and Chuck Colson. It has been the subject of articles in USA Today and Christianity Today. And most recently, Hachette Book Group has partnered with Windblown Media to bring a global readership (and a lot of money!) to the author and original publishers of this title, which to date has sold more than a million copies. A movie is in the works.

As anyone who has an interest in this book knows by now, the novel is the story of Mackenzie Philips, whose youngest daughter was abducted and murdered during a family vacation. The story picks up about four years after this event, frequently referred to in the book as the Great Sadness, one of the literary contrivances that an experienced fiction editor, undoubtedly, would have gotten rid of. Mack has received a note inviting him to the shack deep in the Oregon wilderness where his daughter's murder presumably occurred. The note is signed from Papa, and Mack fairly quickly determines that this is an invitation from God. He accepts the invitation, travels to the shack one weekend, and has a life-changing encounter with the Trinity, which Young depicts as a jolly African American woman who calls herself Papa (God the Father); Jesus; and Sarayu, an Asian woman depicting God the Holy Spirit.

A reader's response to this novel will depend on how seriously he or she takes the Word of God as the only source of truth. If a reader believes that we can know God only as He has revealed Himself to us in His Word, this novel will be difficult reading, as it was for me. While some would argue that this is fiction, and there is room to "play" in Christian art, I would argue that truly Christian art will not go beyond what Scripture teaches to create a new "truth." What Young has done in this novel is to create a god in his own image, a god who appeals to him and who at times resembles the God of Scripture but in the end is a far cry from the great I AM who revealed Himself to Moses and Isaiah.

As someone who has studied literary theory and criticism, I find the writing itself to be poor quality fiction. The dialog is often silly, the plot contrived, and the author really could use a good writing course on literary conventions like plot and narration. But those are trivial objections compared to the content itself. The author clearly has been influenced by writers like C. S. Lewis and John Bunyan-- Eugene Peterson has made the unfortunate comparison of this book to Pilgrim's Progress, an endorsement that I believe he'll live to regret, if he doesn't already--but the novel doesn't come close to the level of excellence that Lewis and Bunyan have achieved. In fact, read their works if you're craving something in this genre. It will be time much better spent.

This novel is the fiction of the Emergent Church, with all of its attack on doctrine, creeds, institutional religion, the church, and authority. Young takes each of these on, at times attacking the Bible itself. Young's disrespect for the Scriptures is clear here: "It seemed that direct communication with God was something exclusively for the ancients and uncivilized, while educated Westerners' access to God was mediated and controlled by the intelligentsia. Nobody wanted God in a box, just in a book. Especially an expensive one bound in leather with gilt edges, or was that guilt edges?"

Young has portrayed a god who becomes what we want him (or her) to be. Because Mack has had a difficult relationship with his father, God the Father (or Papa) comes to him in the form of an African American woman--something completely different from a white man's stereotypical image of a father figure. But later in the novel, Mack's father-figure issues resolved, God the Father appears to him as a hippie old man, with beard and white pony tail. Often the interactions among the members of the Godhead are portrayed in what seems to be sexual language, and when the three are together, the dialog reminds me of an episode of the old TV comedy series Three's Company.


Young creates a god not to be worshiped; this is a god to pal around with, one who is a little bit smarter and nicer than most humans--one who bakes well, stargazes, gets careless and spills batter, and at times is just plain silly. The Trinity, justification, the transcendence of God, authority--Young gives his own spin on these significant doctrines of Scripture, and his take has little resemblance to the truths we read of there.

I would not recommend this book. If we want to know the truth about a historical figure, we turn to the best source about the person. Imagine this scenario: A novelist writes a story about George Washington. Many of the incidents in the plot and the writers' characterization of Washington are different from what we know to be true from historical accounts that have been derived from Washington's own writings and the writings of his contemporaries--the product of imagination and not fact. A PhD student writes his dissertation, but bases his thesis on this novel, which contradicts what history tells us to be true. How foolish will this student appear to his advisors when he presents his findings!

And yet millions of readers are reading The Shack, a work of fiction that portrays the Trinity very differently from the way God portrays Himself in His Word, and claiming that they now understand the Trinity, forgiveness, and salvation in a way they never have before. And how disappointing that they have not come to know God through the truth of His Word, which is sufficient: "The holy Scriptures . . . are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped of every good work" (2 Timothy 3:15-17).

For an excellent and easy-to-read review of this novel from a soundly biblical perspective, check out respected blogger Tim Challies. He's written the review I wish I had the time to write, and with his graphics, it's enjoyable to look at too.

It is sad that so many can be persuaded by so little. All that we read--whether it is fiction, nonfiction, science, or history--must be evaluated by the ultimate source, Scripture. This does not mean that we may only read those things that are in accord with and based on Scripture. It just means that we may not derive our understanding of God and His truth on works of art that have exchanged the truth of God for a lie. While Young's ideas are disturbing, how much more disturbing are the responses of those who are adopting his ideas--the product of his imagination--as truth and reality? May we take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.