The Scoop on The Shack

Heads up all you Christian readers. It’s time to talk about The Shack. Who’s read it? Who hasn’t?

An Unusual Assignment
I am the girl at the party wearing last season’s cute shoes because I finally got around to buying them after everyone else bought and ditched them and moved on to the next fashion wave two months ago. What that means for today’s post is that I’ve chosen The Shack to round out this month’s "Here's a Christian title you should be aware of because . . . " topic. It’s the book everybody’s talking about—granted for over a year now. Why is this an unusual assignment? Well, I haven’t read it (yet). Hard to discuss a book you’ve not read, right? Probably, but here goes.

So Why Then…?
First I got a very convincing recommendation months ago from a good friend whose recommendations I trust. Of course, I never got around to it. But last week I was in a class where a well-respected pastor brought it up and suggested we read it (with a disclaimer to read it carefully).

I chose The Shack because true to the topic, we as Christians should be aware of it, whether fan or foe.

The Disclaimer
The Shack may not be for everyone. This blog post is not meant to be an endorsement of the book; I’m simply following this month’s theme in the strictest sense and suggesting that we all should be aware of The Shack and prepared to dialogue about it. I despise controversy for controversy’s sake, but without blindly jumping on any bandwagons, I do believe we need to be aware of the world around us. The Shack is not a new book, and many of our ninetyandnine readers have already brought up both praise and concern about the book.

Since I have not yet read it, I can’t add my opinion here. What I’ve been told is that personification is used that could be interpreted as disrespectful. I have been warned to take the personification in its simplest terms as a device to help us better understand the intricacies of something more complex. In addition, the book is written by a Trinitarian author. Go into the book knowing that but look beyond that to gain value from other aspects.

The Scoop
So what’s the big deal about this book? As of today, the paperback tops the NYT bestseller list. According to an article from Friday in a local Ohio paper, The Shack has reigned on the list for 49 straight weeks and has sold 7 million copies in 14 languages. That can’t be ignored.

People keep describing it as “life-changing.” The book’s home page has a quote from the father of a Columbine victim endorsing it for just that reason. The scoop is that the author employs a third-person narrative to bring a fictional presentation of God to readers that is praised as being amazingly intimate. Many people have claimed the intensely personal writing has brought them peace with unresolved issues and life questions.

In Summary
Well, I just ordered it to find out for myself. By the way, if you order through Amazon by way of ninetyandnine, we get a portion of the sale. So for all your summer reading needs, remember to help out your friendly Apostolic ezine.