I’ve just finished reading "The Shack" by William P. Young. This self-published book is well written and not for those who like to breeze through a story without thinking!
I’ve mentioned the book before, but now I’m just processing my own thoughts. Would I recommend others to read it? Yes. [By others, I mean those who are able to discern thought and action, consequences and ideologies.– If someone is not at that point, they might make it into the first few chapters and then drop it because it is work!]
This is an attempt to take dry theological thoughts and turn them into story form. In story form we wrestle with ideas that are flesh and blood and not just dry chalk and stale point form.
Add to this — the author is quite willing to step close to the edge of heresy while distinguishing heresy from "Orthodoxy".
Does he do well? Yes. By naming a woman "Papa" and relating that idea to God, we are all of a sudden pushed to think about "spirit" in terms of gender. What does it mean that God is "spirit" – neither male nor female. To keep us on our toes, he later has "Papa" appear as a man – a father figure.
Law and grace – two difficult concepts at the best of time — are opened up to spill out the beauty of saying that God lives in us (grace) and by this we fulfil the law. What of ritual? On this one, I wonder whether his distaste for ritual is just dealing with dry ritual, or if "chaos" should be the constant ritual in life?
Lots there to think about!
The information overload by the end of the book will either keep you anxiously reading, or you will be ready for a break. One way or the other — it’s definitely a read. This is a book that will sneak up the best seller charts until one day all those publishers who decided not to publish it will be looking for reprint rights!!