The Shack No. 1

It is always a challenge when giving critical opinions about a book and interpreting what someone wrote because we do not have the benefit of asking the author what he or she actually meant and to enquire whether they actually meant what they wrote.

This is compounded when the book is highly successful because the perception is "well if 1 million people liked it, how come you have a problem with it ?". Good point, however, just because something is popular doesn't mean it is alright. History has certainly proved this.

In my review of the Shack, I am not interested in style or popularity but I want to address the claims the book makes about God. If anything, we cannot allow distorted views of the Trinity, Salvation and the Church, simply because these are central to our Christian faith.

The Shack, very briefly, centers around a man called Mackenzie Allen Phillips, nicknamed "Mack". Mack takes his kids away camping and on the trip his daughter is kidnapped by a serial killer. Days later the police find a bloodied dress in a shack and never find his daughter's body. Years later Mack goes to his postbox and finds a note from God, inviting him to come to that very same shack his daughter's dress was found in.

Mack decides to go to the Shack and there meets God (as the Trinity) represented by three people, God as an African american woman, Jesus as a middle eastern man and the Holy Spirit as a young, small Asian woman. The purpose of this meeting at the Shack is for Mack to deal with his sadness, pain and anger at God, for the loss of his daughter.

The bulk of the book is dialog between Mack and the Trinity. In the end Mack leaves as a changed man.