The Shack – just a novel?

The Shack – just a novel?

Posted on 09. Sep, 2009 by in Blog

Last month I drew some comparisons between “The Shack” and Jeroboam’s golden calves (you can listen to the talk here).  My comparison ran along the following lines:

  • Jeroboam was not suggesting the Israelites worship a false god, he was suggesting an alternative way to worship Yahweh – the God of Israel.
  • People who visited Jeroboam’s golden calves no doubt walked away feeling spiritually fulfilled and closer to God.
  • The problem is that Jeroboam’s worship was completely contrary to the clear instruction from God in Deuteronomy 12 – there was only one place where Israel were to worship God and in the time of Jeroboam that one place was Jerusalem!

I suggested that The Shack may well be doing something similar and just because people feel it has helped them in their relationship with God doesn’t necessarily mean that the book is actually helpful.

In The Shack the story invites us to imagine God as a middle aged negro woman named Papa, the Holy Spirit is an asian woman named Sarayu, and Jesus is a middle eastern carpenter.

A number of people approached me after my sermon and said “It’s just a novel!”  And I must admit – that’s a fair point.  In no way would I want to ban people reading The Shack, nor would I suggest that somehow, just by reading the book, you are engaging in false worship.  My concern is that many people are treating The Shack as more than “just a novel”.  Many people are describing a transformation in their understanding of God.

A few years ago when Christians started speaking out against Dan Brown’s da Vinci Code one of the most common comebacks was “It’s just a novel!”  And, once again, I agree!  I read the book and actually enjoyed it.  The problem is that people were making more of da Vinci Code than just a novel.  People were using it to reshape their understanding of Jesus and the historical reliability of the New Testament.

In the next week or so Adam Gregory is going to do a book review of The Shack for us.  Here are some other online reviews if you want to chase it down further:

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