Engaging, creative, but ultimately disappointing
The novel The Shack has taken the Christian community by storm. It is likely that someone you know has read it. This self-published work has sold well over one million copies in a single year and has stood at the number one position for paperback fiction on the New York Times’ bestsellers list for a number of months. The author, William P. Young, has been interviewed by numerous news outlets. Many Christian leaders have applauded the book.
Remarkable but disappointing
Ironically, The Shack is a remarkable book and yet, at the same time, a disappointing book. It is remarkable because the story is engaging, creative, and, at times, profound. But it is disappointing because of the unorthodox theological perspective to which the author returns time and again. Although this book is a fictional novel about the spiritual and emotional journey of the main character, Mackenzie “Mack” Allen Phillips, the author also intends it to be a theological work, dealing with the nature of God, the Trinity, salvation, faith, and other biblical doctrines. It is this theological perspective of The Shack that we will seek to explore. Of the book’s many doctrinal problems, three in particular need to be highlighted.
1. A quasi-universalistic view of salvation
William Young teaches a universalistic model of salvation. Little is ever said about repentance, faith, or conversion to Christ. On the other hand, Young repeatedly states that sin is not punished, all individuals are forgiven of their sins, and all that God now seeks is a relationship with man. He has God say, “I don’t need to punish people for sin. Sin is its own punishment, devouring you from the inside. It’s not my purpose to punish it; it’s my joy to cure it” (p.?120). In another place, “…you asked me what Jesus accomplished on the cross; so now listen to me carefully: through his death and resurrection, I am now fully reconciled to the world” (p.?192).
2. Rejection of biblical authority
Over and over again, The Shack sends the message that personal experience with God trumps the biblical authority of Scripture. Concerning Scripture, Young writes, “…God’s voice had been reduced to paper, and even that paper had to be moderated and deciphered by the proper authorities and intellects…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?” (p.?66). Mack, the main character, asks God where people will find Him. God responds, “You might see me in a piece of art, or music, or silence, or through people, or in creation, or in your joy or sorrow…you will see me in the Bible but just don’t look for rules or principles…” (p.?198).
3. Openly questioning the Trinity
The doctrine of the Trinity is at the very heart of The Shack. But the Trinity is reinterpreted in a way which theologians throughout church history would never have imagined. God the Father is portrayed as “…a large beaming African-American woman named…Elouisa…or…Papa” (pp.?82-87) and bears nail prints in His hands just as Jesus does (p.?107).
Jesus Christ, the second Person of the Trinity, is described as “…a Middle Eastern man dressed as a laborer…Jesus” (pp.?82-87). Although fully divine, this Jesus is portrayed as more human than divine. Yet, Scripture depicts the very opposite: the Bible shows Christ’s human nature to be subject to His divine nature. In the novel, Mack asks Jesus, “You created the world…?” “I created it as the Word, before the Word became flesh. So even though I created this, I see it now as a human” (p.?109). “Although he is fully God, he has never drawn on his nature as God to do anything…,” Papa explains (p.?99). “So when he healed the blind?” questions Mack. “He did so as a dependent, limited human being trusting in my life and power to be at work within him and through him. Jesus as a human being, had no power within himself to heal anyone,” replies Papa (p.?100).
The third Person of the Trinity, God the Holy Spirit, is depicted as “…a small, distinctively Asian woman ‘…I am Sarayu…keeper of the gardens among other things…’” (pp.?82-87). Young teaches that the Holy Spirit was a created being. Mack says, “Sarayu, I know you are the Creator…” Sarayu replies, “A created being can only take what already exists and from it fashion something different” (p.131). Although Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that the Holy Spirit was a created being, the Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is a person of the Godhead, co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and the Son.
Conclusion
It is unfortunate that such a moving story is set in a backdrop of so much false teaching and imagery. Sadly, this is a book that many would want to give to a hurting friend but cannot do so in good conscience because of its doctrinal content. The Shack is rife with theological liberalism, Emerging Church ideology, and startling irreverence. As we would not welcome a Bible teacher into our churches who taught these doctrines, even so we should not bring these doctrines into our homes and lives in book form. Christians who are interested in reading The Shack should be strongly warned about the errors contained in it.