Book Review: The Shack by William Young
Related Categories: Book Review
Book Review by Dr. Chuck Betters
William Young has accomplished in the reader what I fear the most with such books, that is, young impressionable Christians, who cannot see the bigger picture of what he is saying about the character and nature of God and about 
Christianity in particular, are caught up in the sensationalism. We love it when Christian authors are successful and rightly so. We then refer our friends to the "new book that has changed my life." Let me be specific. A few years ago many raided the Christian book stores to buy "This Present Darkness," a fictional story of demonism. The problem was that many believers then developed their demonology out of what Peritti wrote rather than what the scriptures teach on this critical subject. We did the same thing with the "Prayer of Jabez" phenomenon by developing a theology of prayer out of a terrible misinterpretation of one verse of scripture - and, what about the "Left Behind" series of books and movies that are rooted in false eschatology? And do you remember the book written by a Mormon woman who claimed to have an out of the body experience and visited heaven? I could go on and on.
In the writing of The Shack, William Young writes his own foreword (a place where credibility is usually established) to introduce and give credibility to the main character of his story, going so far as to explain why he himself is part of the story. This is a clever tactic to engage the reader into what they think is a real story about real people, a sort of historical novel with fictional (but not really) characters. This is why this book is having such a deep spiritual impact on its readers and why Michael W. Smith says in the puffs that "The Shack is the most wonderful absorbing work of fiction I've read in many years. My wife and I laughed, cried, and repented of our own lack of faith along the way. The Shack will leave you craving for more of the presence of God." But I say, "Does this God who Young novelizes square with the revelation of God given in the Word? I insist it does not. And novel doctrines should never be threatened or offended when questioned by the truth.
Click here to read the complete Book Review.
