Book Review: The Shack

I may, from time to time, post reviews of books that I've read. Here's one try.

The Shack, By William P. Young

This is a book that’s created quite a stir in both Christian and non-Christian circles, and in both positive and negative ways in each, so I felt that it would be worthwhile to read it and see what it had to say. For a New York Times bestseller, I was quite surprised at how overtly Christian this book is. The story of a grieving man’s struggle with and very literal encounter with God, this book begins an interesting discussion of God’s role in earthly events, his relationship to humans, his nature, and people’s general understanding of who God is, in a way that is distinctly post-modern rather than modern. The writing itself is rather pedestrian and sounds a bit stilted at times, but it is accessible while retaining an ability to communicate deep thoughts, even if it lacks a certain elegance. Probably the best thing about this book is that it presents a depiction of God that differs significantly from both religious and non-religious mainstream American understandings, which, to my mind, is a welcome perspective. While perhaps I haven’t thought in depth through all of the theological implications, I think that it provides an important challenge to traditional American cultural understandings of God. If I were a critic, I’d give it three out of five stars – interesting and worth reading, but not, in my mind, a stellar piece of literature.