The Shack...the art of painting theologically

I got a copy of " The Shack " when I was in the hospital in early April, but had so many other books on the go that it sort of got shuffled to the bottom of the deck. Anyways, in the midst of my trips to the mainland, the ferry trips, hotel room...I read it over the week end.

There was lots of conversation not to long ago over at Kingdom Grace, around Mark Driscoll and his " Shack Attack." Lets just say off the start, if you've built your theology " in " a shack, and have everything stuffed in there nice and cozy...you may not like this book.

The image of God being a heavy set colored Jamaican mama ( Elousia ), Jesus being a carpenter with a workshop, and the Holy Spirit ( Sarayu )being this flighty teasing combo of light and wind...might just be too much.

The central character in the story ( Mack ) encounters God in the shack where his daughter was murdered 2 years earlier. God talking to Mack...

" I'm not trying to make this harder for either of us. But this is a good place to start. I often find that getting head issues out of the way first makes the heart stuff easier to work on later...when you're ready."

She picked up the wooden spoon again, dripping with some sort of batter. " Mackenzie ( Mack ), I am neither male or female, even though both genders are derived from my nature. If I choose to appear to you as a man or woman, it's because I love you. For me to appear to you as a woman and suggest that you call me Papa is simply to mix metaphors, to help you keep from falling so easily back into your religious conditioning."

She leaned forward as if to share a secret. " To reveal myself to you as a very large, white grandfather figure with a flowing beard like Gandalf, would simply reinforce your religious stereotypes, and this weekend is not about reinforcing your religious stereotypes."

This book is not a theological treatise on the Trinity, that being said...throughout the book, the artist William P. Young paints beautiful images of spiritual truths. The book is a journey, I cried. Why? I have a two  daughters. I also need to move deeper into forgiveness. I also know what it means to carry a great sadness. I also know what it means to feel distant from the Lord… etc., etc.. But read what Young himself writes:

As you read the story, we pray that God will touch your heart and open up places where you might be stuck, and help you see the way he loves you in richer and deeper tones and colors and sounds. We believe that this book is a gift to you. As words on a page, it has no power to do anything, but as you read don’t be surprised when something happens inside that you were not expecting. That is so like Jesus.

That, friends, would be the purpose of the book. And it achieved that for me. Like opening the curtains and the windows in my own shack of a heart, it breathed in new winds that I wasn’t expecting. It was a gift to me, not just physically but spiritually as well.

William P. Young is an artist, not a theologian...that was refreshing. With his creative brush strokes he painted spiritual truths that captured my imagination...I made me wonder...I found there were moments I was lost in the images. Young is a story-teller, and I think a decent one. I suspect he will improve too. He will refuse, I hope, to be labeled a theologian. But as I’ve said and as he himself has implied, this is not his calling. I don’t care if God appears to me as a an old man, a Jamaican woman, a donkey, a cloud or a fire. I don’t care if pronouncements are made from a stone crying out or the trees of the field clapping their hands or out of the mouth of babes. These are all incidental, but they are all theological. I agree: let’s analyze what is being said. Let’s critique the message. Let’s evaluate the medium. But let’s also remember, this is just a story that can be appreciated. This book for me was a stunning piece of art, in which in many places, I was pulled into the picture and discovered things about myself. 

If you happen to have read the book...let us know what you thought of the book.

Co-publisher Wayne Jacobsen blogs his response to the question “Is The Shack Heresy?”

Comments

I thought it read like a hardy boys novel. It's not my type of book. I know a lot of people have been greatly blessed by it and that's the goodness of it. It's not the type of book I would pick up and read. I read it with an open mind (I'm not saying I didn't like God being depicted in all those ways - that's perfectly normal to me) It was hard reading for me because I'd have rather been reading something I liked.

Bless the writer and bless all those who liked it. I'll stick to my own.

Paige Hughes

[ron cole]

Paige,you said, " Bless the writer and bless all those who liked it. I'll stick to my own.

Cool...I think that's the beauty of art.

Rather than saying it was good or bad,...I like your comment of the " goodness " of it. Art, whether it be poetry or painting...has a goodness to it.I am surrounded with art.Like you,I am an artist myself. I listen to all kinds of music.I surround myself with paintings and photographs. What do they say? Be sure that they say all kinds of things. Some of it isn’t “correct”, but all of it is valid and has a right to be said. I watch lots of movies. I may not personally appreciate or agree with everything that they communicate. But I love how diverse and varietal films can be and how they can shed new light on old ideas or open new vistas of possibilities in the dull and pull me out of the boring ruts of routine I often find myself in. I have a library full of books. You would never be able to peg where I stand theologically from looking at my book shelf. I expose myself to all kinds of art because I love diversity and what all art may have to say or contribute to my life.
Anyways, Paige thanks for sharing your thoughts...I think it's the sign of an artist too, to read through something you may not like, the hard reading and all. Art, writing in the end is a personal experience...we all see it differently, and I guess that's a " good " thing. And Paige, I'm still enjoying your poetry.