So, I have to admit that I was totally skeptical when this book was recommended to me. A friend recommended it as long ago as last summer, but it wasn't until I heard about churches using the book for their Lenten Bible Study that I decided I had to see what all the fuss was about. I was totally sucked in.
The majority of the plot details the struggles of the main character, Mack, in the face of tragedy, the loss of his daughter to a child abductor. Yet, instead of legal pursuits, Mack has lengthy encounters with God, in each person of the Trinity. Go ahead, laugh out loud - I did to at first. But, Young's narrative is a fantastic gripping point for Christians dealing with, well...real life. Ultimately, everyone encounters unimaginable difficulties at one point in their life or another. "The Shack" recounts the most difficult days of Mack's life, and how he begins to wrestle through the presenting issues with God. While I'm not willing to go to bat for the theological credibility of the novel, I certainly believe that this is a great starting point for anyone and everyone striving to be a Christian. Young details what encounters with the Creator in the form of God (an African American woman with notable culinary talents), the Holy Spirit (in the form of a graceful Asian woman), and Jesus Christ (a middle-eastern carpenter). The encounters are filtered through Mack's ultimate disbelief and sensory experiences. Mack wrestles with forgiveness, reconciliation, and love in its rawest forms. Whatever your struggle or joy, Young's suggestion of a tangible encounter with God will fuel the imagination, if not the spirit. Ultimately, we are all children of God. Thus, Mack's struggle to re-discover his identity as a child of God is relevant and touching.
"No matter what God's power may be, the first aspect of God is never that of the absolute Master, the Almighty. It is that of the God who puts himself on our human level and limits himself." -Jacque Ellul, Anarch and Christianity
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