The Shack

This book and its accompanying hype only serves to illustrate the huge cultural gulf between the United States and Europe.Its hard for us to take seriously its cheesey, sentimental and simplistic theology.More importantly,unlike the recent TV play, God On trial, it does n't attempt to deal with the issue of evil and free will.

Shack-ingly bad (0/0 people found this helpful)

I was given this book to read and was quite impressed by all the plaudits on the back cover.

Sorry, then, to report that it is a pile of drivel. With so many "teary" moments even before the little girl goes missing, this is shockingly manipulative fare. It is also gruesomely ill-written. As for the "Theology", I won't go there, but if this the new "Pilgrim's Progress" (is that right, Eugene Peterson?), then Bunyan must be turning in his grave.

I wish that the world were rid of this kind of tripe and that someone, somewhere, would actually produce something worthy of the company of those giants now sleeping uneasy down in the Bunhill Fields!!

No real Flack for The Shack (0/0 people found this helpful)

The books device of using a fictional abduction and murder of a child to confront and process one of the biggest objections to God's love and goodness (or even his existence) is not theologically thorough (in fact the suggestion that God does not want to make everyone 'Christian' is confusing. If 'Christian' means simply someone who knows, loves and follows Jesus then how can God not want everyone to be 'Christian'?)
That said, it's worth remembering that this is a work of fiction which intelligently probes the existence of evil in God's universe. Where the book really triumphs is in its avoidance of stuffy, didactic, preachiness - it really gets under your skin and (dare I say it) reveals the loving heart of God for every man, woman and child.
Some will hate it because it messes with their mental picture of what God might actually be like. Some will poke their fingers through the theological holes and tear it apart. Others will accuse it of not being psychologically far-ranging, but they need to realise that this book is purposely written as a commute-to-work-page-turner: Hence the slightly clunky prose in places, but I've read much worse - that's my only real criticism.
This book is riding the wave of the collective queasiness about the darkness that permeates this life - and is especially poignant in light of the recent high profile abduction of Madeline McCann from a Portugese holiday apartment.
I think opinion about this book's relevance to the problem of human misery will polarise into two camps: Those who won't let God off the hook - and those who realise God was never on it in the first place.

challenge yourself (0/0 people found this helpful)

This book is a miracle in itself as it is self-published. As a self-publisher I know that what William Young has achieved is to get past the cynical nature of the publishing industry and into the best-sellers list and you need God's help to do that! This book is not for the faint hearted or the law-enslaved as it opens up the concept of God's grace and his love in a thought provoking and controversial way. What it does is to challenge the traditional concept of God and convey that it is not our place to pin God down to 'fair' or indeed to our limited human and biased western understanding. God is God and faith is believing and trusting in Him, in the trinity and its' divine love, no matter that we can't 'prove' any of it except in our own life as we live by faith. Anyone who wants to discover God afresh should read this book as a way of opening up their mind to faith, hope and love. God has been given a bad press historically by the very people who claim to love him and this book offers a completely unique approach for those who are brave enough to want answers.

Refreshing!!! (0/0 people found this helpful)

This is the most refreshing christian book i've read in years! Every christian needs to read this. It made me realise just how religious traditional beliefs are destroying our relationship with God. I've had to challenge a lot of my own views and i feel like i've come closer to God in reading this story.

William P. Young

Reader Reviews:

Shacking! (0/0 people found this helpful)

Shack-ingly bad (0/0 people found this helpful)

No real Flack for The Shack (0/0 people found this helpful)

challenge yourself (0/0 people found this helpful)

Refreshing!!! (0/0 people found this helpful)

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