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From:William P. Young , Windblown Media ,
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User Rating: Amazon Sales Rank:#8 |
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2 of 2 customers found the following review helpful:
 Prepare for your world to be Rocked!, 2008-06-13
Prepare for your Idea's To Be Rocked
I have to heartly encourage all those who have any interest at all in God to pick up this book and partake of all the nuggets of gold that are showered throughout the pages. You will not be dissapointed. It is an amazing book I often found I could relate to, a character that symbolizes every human being at one time or another in their lives, a heartache that is tangible and universal and a God that is approachable. Read and be greatly blessed.
7 of 15 customers found the following review helpful:
 Awful: "Three's Company" Meets "The Waltons", 2008-06-13
I think what bothers me the most about this book is how it is so unoriginal and poorly written. Many others have picked up on the theological criticisms, which I'll skip. Here are my chief complaints on its quality as a novel:
First, all of the images are borrowed - nothing original; light, gardens, starry nights, etc.. Even the dialog between the characters is trite and borrowed from scipts from a TV sitcom. People just don't talk that way. The book has lots of "break to commercial" moments and winks between characters - a cross between the Waltons and Three's Company
Secondly, it's all dialog with limited experience learning - most of the concepts in the book are played out through dialog and for the quality of the dialog, see my first point above. So where Lewis and others take us on adventures of experience and trials to reveal Christianity through creativity, this author takes us to a shack to sit through TV style dialog with a large black woman and a Christ figure who likes to stare at the stars. Even the interaction with the wisdom of God is a dialog.
Thirdly, the main character (Mack) is an idiot. He went through seminary but gets "brain cramps" when discussing the nature of God. He discovers (through dialog) that God is not a old white guy with a long beard passing judgement - but that you can have a personal relationship with God. What a concept! Hasn't the idea of a living, loving God been addressed in literature prior to the Shack? Maybe say in the Gospels or Pauls letters?
Finally, it is manipulative by choosing the most tragic of all human events (the loss of a child) and then providing resolution (Mack gets to see his lost child again, who assures him that all is ok). Read Job for the real story and real life - things happen, we don't know why, but we are supposed to believe that God is God and in control. The administration of heaven is a mystery (meaning we don't understand it).
So in summary, this book is a poorly written, trite, manipulative, 70's style tv script that never would have made production. The popularity is baffling. But then again, Three's Company was a very popular show.
1 of 2 customers found the following review helpful:
Amazing Read, 2008-06-13
This is an amazing book. I've given away 4 copies to people I love. You will want to share it with someone so you can discuss it. This book will make you think about God in new and wonderful ways!
2 of 3 customers found the following review helpful:
The beauty and depth of God, 2008-06-13
It is simple, the beauty and depth of God come alive in this novel, one that has immmensely surprised me. Often, Christian fiction is theologically unsound and simplistic. Yet, in The Shack, depth abounds. Not only will the reader contemplate who this God we serve truly is, but the reader will re-evaluate how they relate to "Papa". Living a life with skin and relating it to a life with Spirit seems endless, yet, this books directs a connection with our spiritual life that few other novels I have read are able to hold. Some of his thoughts push a little far away from orthodox thinking, and he challenges the institutional church, but I see all of this as good criticism, that we must take into account. I say to the author, Good work Willie!
6 of 8 customers found the following review helpful:
Trinitarian - Incarnational - Relational: GOD is in The Shack, 2008-06-13
Would you like to read a book with deep, rich theological topics like the nature of God, theological anthropology, The Trinity, The Incarnation, the nature of evil, and the puzzle of The Atonement? Or would you like to read a great story that captivates your attention and enriches you soul? Well... What if I said you could do both?
In The Shack author William P. Young plumbs the depths of dark sadness as well as explores the height of spiritual joy. I have never read a book that conveys so well my own musings about God. I wept openly at some of Young's penetrating interpretation of ultimate meaning and who God really is. I giggled and wept at the same time (if that's possible) when the character Sarayu briefly discussed fractals - a core understanding of the created order for me. Were these mere reflections and ratification of my own notions? Perhaps - but I know that I am very glad I read The Shack and I think that anyone who wants more of God will be, too.
Some online reviewers are hostile to it because The Shack seems to attack their closely held notions about orthodox Christianity or the benefits of a seminary education. Yet The Shack grooves nicely with my own seminary training that God is Trinitarian, Incarnational and Relational - which makes all the difference. And if you don't know what I mean by that last sentence - read the book!
To be sure, five point Calvinists will have trouble with The Shack because its foundation is that a.) God created human beings in the divine image and with free will, otherwise, b.) God's love would have no room to act to redeem and sanctify humanity and creation, and c.) God is first, foremost and foundationally LOVE - and all that happens must be interpreted through knowing God this way. As a Wesleyan-Arminian Christian, well, that's what I've understood, been trained in and proclaimed all along. So that's another touch point for me, and a point of contention for others. But that's part of "seeing through a mirror, dimly," isn't it? I don't wish my Calvinist sisters and brothers any ill will - but I also understand why they might not like the book. And let's be clear: Young does not in any way dilute or undercut God's transcendence and sovereignty, either. He peppers strong reminders that God is God and the creature is not throughout his narrative.
As for me, William Young has captured what it might be like to meet God face to face and live - really live. He weaves tons of deep theological meaning into what it means for us to take on abundant life now through the Spirit because of the eternal life graced to us through Christ from the Father's heart. And he did so without boring me to death - but by charming me via a meaningful story.
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