"Mack" Philips took his three children on a family camping trip while his wife visited her sister. Just as they were about to leave the campsite, the two older kids decided to take a last canoe ride before heading home. As their canoe overturned, and Mack went to help them, his back was turned and the unspeakable happened. Mack's youngest daughter,Missy, was abducted by a known child predator. After a massive search, evidence of Missy showed up at an abandoned cabin. Although they never found her body, everyone knew the worst had happened. For the next four years "a great sadness" fell over Mack and his family, until a note from God showed up in his mailbox. What happens next will move you to a greater understanding of God's unfailing love for us all.
Mackenzie Allen Phillips's youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation, and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later, in this midst of his great sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change his life forever.
Wm. Paul Young was born a Canadian and raised among a Stone Age tribe by his missionary parents in the highlands of former New Guinea. He suffered great loss as a child and young adult and now enjoys the "wastefulness of grace" with his family in the Pacific Northwest.
Eugene Peterson says this book is as good and as important as The Pilgrim’s Progress. Well, it really is not. It is neither as good nor as original a story and it lacks the theological precision of Bunyan’s work. But really, this is a bit of a facile comparison. The Pilgrim’s Progress, after all, is allegory—a story that has a second distinct meaning that is partially hidden behind its literal meaning. The Shack is not meant to be allegory. Nor can The Shack quite be equated with a story like The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe where C.S. Lewis simply asked (and answered) this kind of question: “What might Christ become like if there really were a world like Narnia, and He chose to be incarnate and die and rise again in that world as He actually has done in ours?” The Shack is in a different category than these more notable Christian works. It seeks to represent the members of the Trinity as they are (or as they could be) and to suggest through them what they might teach were they to appear to us in a similar situation. There is a sense of attempted or perceived reality in this story that is missing in the others. This story is meant to teach theology that Young really believes to be true. The story is a wrapper for the theology. In theory this is well and good; in practice the book is only as good as its theology. And in this case, the theology just is not good enough.
Because of the sheer volume of error and because of the importance of the doctrines reinvented by the author, I would encourage Christians, and especially young Christians, to decline this invitation to meet with God in The Shack. It is not worth reading for the story and certainly not worth reading for the theology. -- Tim Challies
Average Rating: 3 out of 5 stars(3 out of 5 stars)
8 of 1979 Reviews Showing:(View All Reviews)
4.5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Cynthia Curry (Sugar Land, TX), February 08, 2010
The Shack is a marvelous story with many unexpected twists and turns. Mr. Young writes a wonderful hope-filled and inspiring peice. The characthers are unique and intriguing. You are always glued to the pages wondering what will happen next. The depth of grief and loss is felt throughout but the redeemptive qualites continually fill the pages. This inspirational piece had to be divinely given because it is rare to have a "something" that is so outstanddingly different. I have prayed since I read it (years now) that a movie be made because I think it is the only way to really show what we can only imagine. I am thankful for this piece of literature and highly reccommend it for anyone who have suffered losses, especially that of a child. I beleive it is more than a story but an account of a reality that only Mr. Young really undersands....
5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Daniel Spiers (BSL), February 06, 2010
This book means to show you how God's ways are very different from our thinking most of the time. This book really showed you how much God loves all and will go to great links just to prove it to each individual. The ones who say this book is leading you away from God is far from a deep relationship with God! This will take you into another step in your relationship with God by just reading the book!
0 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Jerry L Kreps (Lincoln, NE), February 04, 2010
When I read the reviews to this book there were 1,975 given. While a few wrote negative reviews most give glowing accounts of the book, which is really sad, because it reflects how many people who claim to be Christians really know little of the inspired Word of God. Jesus instructed us in Matt 7:13-14:
quoting from the Bible in Basic English:
"Go in by the narrow door; for wide is the door and open is the way which goes to destruction, and great numbers go in by it. For narrow is the door and hard the road to life, and only a small number make discovery of it".
Those who believe that this book shows them a path to salvation have chosen the wide door which will lead to destruction, all because of hardships in their life. It is just a variation in theme of New Age Religion, along Socialist lines, which teaches Group Think.
"I am the way, the Truth and the Life. No man comes to the Father except through me."
-- Jesus Christ, as related to us by John (14:6).
0 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Tnerb K. (Riverside, CA), February 04, 2010
If this book changed you, you should read the Bible and get changed back before it's too late.
5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Laura (VT), January 31, 2010
This book changed me and I thank God for it. It changed my perception of God and radically changed the way I interact with people. It gave me a way to be able to picture God actually right here with me all the time instead of seeming far off somewhere, and I'm working on building a much deeper relationship and true friendship with him. I'm so thankful God put this book in front of me, and I suggest that Everyone reads it, because it Will challenge you. What do you have to lose?
5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by David Watt (Jefferson, GA), January 29, 2010
Helped me understand how to live what GOD has been telling me all along. Life is hard, but GOD is GOOD.
0 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Bob (town), January 28, 2010
Good pictures of forgiveness. Opens you emotions wide open but then shovels in a lot of bunk. A typical method of pypassing reason through emotion and then inserting ideas that are not biblical nor true. Dangerous book, not recommended.
0 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Ron Livesay (Hemet, CA), January 28, 2010
Thanks to Bryan for his honest and biblical review of "The Shack." It is important that anyone who reviews a book should read the book in its entirety. I too read the book and wrote a review, based on the Scriptures, while making use of extensive quotes from the book itself.
View all 1979 Reviews
Write a review of The Shack
Catalog Shopping
Membership
