Book Review

The Shack

by James R. Owen, Sr.

Introduction

The theme of this Christian novel is forgiveness. The story centers around the abduction and murder of a man’s child while the family was on a campout. Through a series of unavoidable circumstances the father’s little girl mysteriously vanishes and the police believe that it has all the earmarks of a wanted serial killer who has alluded them for years.

Mark, the father, not only grieves for his daughter, but cannot forgive himself for letting her be taken. His hatred for her abductor is fierce. Throughout the years he is so consumed by his emotions that he experiences a “great sadness”.

The only thing that rescues the father is his response to a mysterious note he suspects is from God. The note takes him back to the shack that was on the property on the campout site. It is there that Mack meets all three persons of the Godhead and one of God’s angels. God the Father appears as a black woman; Jesus as a Hebrew man; God the Holy Spirit comes to him as Sarayu an Asian woman. The angel is also a woman. Each of these individuals plays a part in Mack’s reclamation. As a result Mack finds forgiveness of himself and for the murderer.

The Shack is the latest attempt by an author to make God popular with the Church today, a Church that has in large measure left the authority of God’s Word. To make God acceptable by man’s means when God’s powerful words have not done so seems the height of arrogance or at best blindness. This is another indicator that the Church is continuing to be weaned away from the Word of God.

I will make just a few comments about what I found in the book that is either the most objectionable or the most impressive to this reader.

The Godhead

One doubts if the old men of God who were so faithful to God’s word and who held God’s holiness in such high esteem could even imagine casting God the Father and the Holy Spirit as women. My first question is, why did the author think this was necessary? Could it be that the use of a male father would be unacceptable to a good many readers of Christian novels today since most of them are “modern” women? This might especially be true in light of some of the dialog. For instance, Papa, a female Father, reacts to Mack by first saying,”My but aren’t you getting uppity an’all. Give a man an inch and he thinks he’s a ruler.” Later she reacts to him by shaking her head and walking away while muttering “Men! Such idiots sometimes.” P.192

Not only does that not reflect the attitude of the Father, but one can imagine what the response would be by the women readers if the Father was made to utter “women! Such idiots sometimes.” These and other examples could be given to illustrate how “hip” (read worldly) much of the dialog is when the members of the Godhead speak. Pp.104-106,108,191-192.

But It Is A Novel

Yes it is. But when it is a Christian novel it is bound by the truth of Scripture. How can it teach truth if in the process of telling the story it leaves the source of truth? Man’s best attempt to describe the relationship between the members of the Godhead will always fall short of reality when one leaves God’s source of wisdom, the Bible. Thus, those who are familiar with the Bible are shocked at the liberties the author takes. Man’s attempt to make God more relational usually fails and instead it becomes cheap and worldly.

Copyright @ 2009 James R. Owen, Sr.. All rights reserved.

"Man's best attempt to describe the relationship between the members of the Godhead will always fall short of reality when one leaves God's source of wisdom, the Bible."