**Rowland Croucher**
2008-11-26 03:14:23 UTC
THE SHACK:
Part I: A Preamble
Religious books become best-sellers when they connect with our deep
questions and tragic/meaningful experiences. Some become classics,
others may be left behind with the detritus of literary or theological
history.
Wm. Paul Young's The Shack (2007) is a best-seller (over 1 million
copies, translation into 40-plus languages, and has knocked Rick
Warren's Purpose-Driven books off a few perches) but probably won't be a
classic. He's nowhere near the brilliance of apologists like Oxbridge
don C S Lewis or Soren Kierkegaard.
But when we ask why so many ordinary folks tell their friends 'You gotta
read this' I think they have two questions in mind which Young is trying
to answer:
* 'Where is God when tragedy crashes in on us, when the innocent suffer,
when a "Great Sadness" overwhelms us?' (Theodicy) and
* 'What sense can we make of it all?' (Theology).
Addressing the second issue first, my 'conservative self' wants a
coherent theological system where 'truth' is clear, and questions are
answered to my satisfaction with a theory of EverythingImportant which
'adds up'. Young tries to do this in his own way, but many
fundamentalists/ conservatives take issue with some of his ideas.
More of that later.
My 'moderate/progressive/skeptical self' can live with some paradox,
ambiguity, antinomy, and has real problems with a desire to wallow in
'simplicity this side of complexity'. I'm prepared to live with stuff
happening which I can't explain, and believe that verifiable 'miracles'
are very rare. I know humans can't easily live with cognitive
dissonance, but some of my reservations about The Shack's approach is
that too little is left to mystery. The Judeo-Christian God suffers with
us, acts for us, speaks to us, but (as in Job, for example) doesn't
always give us nifty answers to our deep and urgent questions.
Without revealing too much of the plot, Young takes us on a journey into
another, fantastic (in both senses) world, complete with out-of-body
experiences - a journey which, to say the least, stretches credulity.
Liberals/progressives are rarely at home in realms-beyond-the-rational.
Many books have been written about evil/suffering: Philip Yancey's
'Where is God When it Hurts?', Harold Kushner's 'When Bad Things Happen
to Good People', C. S. Lewis's 'The Problem of Pain' come to mind.
The Shack tries to contemporize (and soften) C. S. Lewis's approach,
especially the in-your-face question that Lewis asks if one objects to
the notion of human freedom issuing in the possibility of our inflicting
evil on others, and God's allowing rebellious humans to choose hell:
'Well, what are you asking God to do?' The Shack is an attempt to put
into words God's response...
The Problem of Pain has these famous lines which might serve as
commentary on Young's approach:
'ALL YOUR LIFE AN UNATTAINABLE ECSTASY HAS HOVERED JUST BEYOND THE GRASP
OF YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS. THE DAY IS COMING WHEN YOU WILL WAKE TO FIND,
BEYOND ALL HOPE, THAT YOU HAVE ATTAINED IT, OR ELSE, THAT IT WAS WITHIN
YOUR REACH AND YOU HAVE LOST IT FOREVER.'
Except that Young is not as prescriptive about hell as was C S Lewis.
There's much more about the joyful certainty of a loving relationship
with God in The Shack than in The Problem of Pain (which C S Lewis wrote
before he fell in love, and married, Joy Davidman. You'll have to read
'A Grief Observed' to get in touch with that side of Lewis).
Indeed Young is sometimes accused by fundamentalists of being a
universalist. He isn't, unless you want to read that into this
interesting exchange:
[Jesus]: 'Those who love me come from every system that exists. They
were Buddhists or Mormons, Baptists or Muslims, Democrats,
Republicans... Americans and Iraqis, Jews and Palestinians. I have no
desire to make them Christian...' 'Does that mean,' asked Mack, 'that
all roads will lead to you?' 'Not at all,' smiled Jesus... 'Most roads
don't lead anywhere. What it does mean is that I will travel any road to
find you'. [p. 182].
As I write, Paul Young's evening with a group of several hundred of us
in Melbourne last night is still fresh. He told us that the paragraph
above is his favorite, but has attracted the most 'flak'. (Last night he
didn't mention hell either, which no doubt the fundamentalists among us
were wanting him to do!)
I would urge anyone to read this little page-turner, and suspend your
simplistic fundamentalism or sophisticated skepticism, and allow
yourself to be bathed in God's love - an experience beyond creeds or
explicable rationalities, whether conservative or liberal. Of course, if
you can offer a more coherent apologetic send it to me, and I'll put a
selection on our website, but I for one applaud Young for, as we
Australians say, 'having a go'...
Below we'll look in more detail at the man and his book, and examine
some of the facile-to-excellent answers he offers to life's Big Questions.
******
Part II: The Author and his Book
Knowing an author's life-story offers many keys to understanding what
and how they write. At last night's meeting I jotted down these
summary-points about his amazing journey:
* Paul Young was brought up among the stone-age Dani people of New
Guinea. His missionary-father was cruel/abusive, and the boy Paul had
lots of questions he was not allowed to ask.
* Because he understood the Dani language better than his parents (as
children do in these situations) he knew about their conspiracies to
kill his family: which, understandably, produced terrible nightmares.
His bad dreams were made worse by aspects of the Dani's highly
sexualized culture, and some sexual abuse he received at a boarding school.
* Paul attended 20-something different schools before graduating from
high school, so he didn't have a 'missus': he trained himself not to
'miss' anybody.
* Until Paul worked on his shame-based approach to life over a period of
11 years (after a brief extra-marital affair) he'd reacted to conflict
by 'compartmentalizing' his responses to each person/situation. He
didn't know the difference between an observation and a value-statement.
For example, when his wife said 'Don't mixed colored clothes with
whites' his life-experience taught him to regard that as a dire
condemnation of him as a person. He'd planned his suicide (in Mexico, so
his children wouldn't find his body). But his wife never gave up on him
(hence the tribute 'To Kim, my Beloved, thank you for saving my life!').
* Paul had confused God with his own father: so he could never win God's
approval either, and became a religious perfectionist. His were 'golden
addictions' - being significant, pleasing others, etc.
* Paul has only been his 'free self' the last four years: especially
after intensive therapy (until his counsellor-friend was accidentally
shot dead by a meth-addicted son). After a life full of religious and
psychological 'crap', God showed up! His secrets were exposed - all of
them - and he finally realized he couldn't heal himself.
* Paul is an 'accidental author': he did not set out to publish a book,
but to write a story - in 2005 - for his children and grandchildren. He
notes wrily: 'It's as if God wanted someone to speak to Balaam!' Paul
was not well-off (three jobs, rental housing) and when a few friends
urged him to get it into print, 26 publishers rejected it. So they set
up 'Windblown Media' and published it themselves, despatching books
around the world from a friend's garage.
* The Shack is a parable. 'Does that mean it's true?' 'Yes,' responds
Paul, 'It's just not "real": it's a story!' Is the geography real? Yes
(except for the stop-light): people are now hiking that route in the
U.S's Pacific North-West. (The story-line is so 'real' that two forensic
detectives asked for a briefing on the case-file!).
* The Shack's key question: 'In a world of unspeakable pain, where is
God?'. Paul says he's reacting against the angry God he grew up with. He
wants people to bring their own paradigms to the story, and be open to a
loving Father/Son/Spirit God. Performance-based religion is the worst
way to relate to God.
* And the imagery? The 'shack' is the human soul, filled with junk or
good stuff by the good and evil inputs of others: until God ('Papa')
emerges and gives us an 'Almighty hug!' It took Paul 11 years to
renovate his 'shack'.
* The essential message? 'There is nothing from which you cannot be
redeemed!'' 'You are the one the shepherd will leave the ninety and nine
for...!'
* Paul's conclusion last night? 'It took me 50 years to become a child:
I'm not going back to being an adult again!' 'Remember: God doesn't use
shame or guilt or condemnation to heal us!'
[Part III to come]
Rowland Croucher 25/11/2008
--
Shalom/Salaam/Pax! Rowland Croucher
http://jmm.aaa.net.au/ (20,000 articles 4000 humor)
Blogs - http://rowlandsblogs.blogspot.com/
Justice for Dawn Rowan - http://dawnrowansaga.blogspot.com/
Funny Jokes and Pics - http://funnyjokesnpics.blogspot.com/
Part I: A Preamble
Religious books become best-sellers when they connect with our deep
questions and tragic/meaningful experiences. Some become classics,
others may be left behind with the detritus of literary or theological
history.
Wm. Paul Young's The Shack (2007) is a best-seller (over 1 million
copies, translation into 40-plus languages, and has knocked Rick
Warren's Purpose-Driven books off a few perches) but probably won't be a
classic. He's nowhere near the brilliance of apologists like Oxbridge
don C S Lewis or Soren Kierkegaard.
But when we ask why so many ordinary folks tell their friends 'You gotta
read this' I think they have two questions in mind which Young is trying
to answer:
* 'Where is God when tragedy crashes in on us, when the innocent suffer,
when a "Great Sadness" overwhelms us?' (Theodicy) and
* 'What sense can we make of it all?' (Theology).
Addressing the second issue first, my 'conservative self' wants a
coherent theological system where 'truth' is clear, and questions are
answered to my satisfaction with a theory of EverythingImportant which
'adds up'. Young tries to do this in his own way, but many
fundamentalists/ conservatives take issue with some of his ideas.
More of that later.
My 'moderate/progressive/skeptical self' can live with some paradox,
ambiguity, antinomy, and has real problems with a desire to wallow in
'simplicity this side of complexity'. I'm prepared to live with stuff
happening which I can't explain, and believe that verifiable 'miracles'
are very rare. I know humans can't easily live with cognitive
dissonance, but some of my reservations about The Shack's approach is
that too little is left to mystery. The Judeo-Christian God suffers with
us, acts for us, speaks to us, but (as in Job, for example) doesn't
always give us nifty answers to our deep and urgent questions.
Without revealing too much of the plot, Young takes us on a journey into
another, fantastic (in both senses) world, complete with out-of-body
experiences - a journey which, to say the least, stretches credulity.
Liberals/progressives are rarely at home in realms-beyond-the-rational.
Many books have been written about evil/suffering: Philip Yancey's
'Where is God When it Hurts?', Harold Kushner's 'When Bad Things Happen
to Good People', C. S. Lewis's 'The Problem of Pain' come to mind.
The Shack tries to contemporize (and soften) C. S. Lewis's approach,
especially the in-your-face question that Lewis asks if one objects to
the notion of human freedom issuing in the possibility of our inflicting
evil on others, and God's allowing rebellious humans to choose hell:
'Well, what are you asking God to do?' The Shack is an attempt to put
into words God's response...
The Problem of Pain has these famous lines which might serve as
commentary on Young's approach:
'ALL YOUR LIFE AN UNATTAINABLE ECSTASY HAS HOVERED JUST BEYOND THE GRASP
OF YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS. THE DAY IS COMING WHEN YOU WILL WAKE TO FIND,
BEYOND ALL HOPE, THAT YOU HAVE ATTAINED IT, OR ELSE, THAT IT WAS WITHIN
YOUR REACH AND YOU HAVE LOST IT FOREVER.'
Except that Young is not as prescriptive about hell as was C S Lewis.
There's much more about the joyful certainty of a loving relationship
with God in The Shack than in The Problem of Pain (which C S Lewis wrote
before he fell in love, and married, Joy Davidman. You'll have to read
'A Grief Observed' to get in touch with that side of Lewis).
Indeed Young is sometimes accused by fundamentalists of being a
universalist. He isn't, unless you want to read that into this
interesting exchange:
[Jesus]: 'Those who love me come from every system that exists. They
were Buddhists or Mormons, Baptists or Muslims, Democrats,
Republicans... Americans and Iraqis, Jews and Palestinians. I have no
desire to make them Christian...' 'Does that mean,' asked Mack, 'that
all roads will lead to you?' 'Not at all,' smiled Jesus... 'Most roads
don't lead anywhere. What it does mean is that I will travel any road to
find you'. [p. 182].
As I write, Paul Young's evening with a group of several hundred of us
in Melbourne last night is still fresh. He told us that the paragraph
above is his favorite, but has attracted the most 'flak'. (Last night he
didn't mention hell either, which no doubt the fundamentalists among us
were wanting him to do!)
I would urge anyone to read this little page-turner, and suspend your
simplistic fundamentalism or sophisticated skepticism, and allow
yourself to be bathed in God's love - an experience beyond creeds or
explicable rationalities, whether conservative or liberal. Of course, if
you can offer a more coherent apologetic send it to me, and I'll put a
selection on our website, but I for one applaud Young for, as we
Australians say, 'having a go'...
Below we'll look in more detail at the man and his book, and examine
some of the facile-to-excellent answers he offers to life's Big Questions.
******
Part II: The Author and his Book
Knowing an author's life-story offers many keys to understanding what
and how they write. At last night's meeting I jotted down these
summary-points about his amazing journey:
* Paul Young was brought up among the stone-age Dani people of New
Guinea. His missionary-father was cruel/abusive, and the boy Paul had
lots of questions he was not allowed to ask.
* Because he understood the Dani language better than his parents (as
children do in these situations) he knew about their conspiracies to
kill his family: which, understandably, produced terrible nightmares.
His bad dreams were made worse by aspects of the Dani's highly
sexualized culture, and some sexual abuse he received at a boarding school.
* Paul attended 20-something different schools before graduating from
high school, so he didn't have a 'missus': he trained himself not to
'miss' anybody.
* Until Paul worked on his shame-based approach to life over a period of
11 years (after a brief extra-marital affair) he'd reacted to conflict
by 'compartmentalizing' his responses to each person/situation. He
didn't know the difference between an observation and a value-statement.
For example, when his wife said 'Don't mixed colored clothes with
whites' his life-experience taught him to regard that as a dire
condemnation of him as a person. He'd planned his suicide (in Mexico, so
his children wouldn't find his body). But his wife never gave up on him
(hence the tribute 'To Kim, my Beloved, thank you for saving my life!').
* Paul had confused God with his own father: so he could never win God's
approval either, and became a religious perfectionist. His were 'golden
addictions' - being significant, pleasing others, etc.
* Paul has only been his 'free self' the last four years: especially
after intensive therapy (until his counsellor-friend was accidentally
shot dead by a meth-addicted son). After a life full of religious and
psychological 'crap', God showed up! His secrets were exposed - all of
them - and he finally realized he couldn't heal himself.
* Paul is an 'accidental author': he did not set out to publish a book,
but to write a story - in 2005 - for his children and grandchildren. He
notes wrily: 'It's as if God wanted someone to speak to Balaam!' Paul
was not well-off (three jobs, rental housing) and when a few friends
urged him to get it into print, 26 publishers rejected it. So they set
up 'Windblown Media' and published it themselves, despatching books
around the world from a friend's garage.
* The Shack is a parable. 'Does that mean it's true?' 'Yes,' responds
Paul, 'It's just not "real": it's a story!' Is the geography real? Yes
(except for the stop-light): people are now hiking that route in the
U.S's Pacific North-West. (The story-line is so 'real' that two forensic
detectives asked for a briefing on the case-file!).
* The Shack's key question: 'In a world of unspeakable pain, where is
God?'. Paul says he's reacting against the angry God he grew up with. He
wants people to bring their own paradigms to the story, and be open to a
loving Father/Son/Spirit God. Performance-based religion is the worst
way to relate to God.
* And the imagery? The 'shack' is the human soul, filled with junk or
good stuff by the good and evil inputs of others: until God ('Papa')
emerges and gives us an 'Almighty hug!' It took Paul 11 years to
renovate his 'shack'.
* The essential message? 'There is nothing from which you cannot be
redeemed!'' 'You are the one the shepherd will leave the ninety and nine
for...!'
* Paul's conclusion last night? 'It took me 50 years to become a child:
I'm not going back to being an adult again!' 'Remember: God doesn't use
shame or guilt or condemnation to heal us!'
[Part III to come]
Rowland Croucher 25/11/2008
--
Shalom/Salaam/Pax! Rowland Croucher
http://jmm.aaa.net.au/ (20,000 articles 4000 humor)
Blogs - http://rowlandsblogs.blogspot.com/
Justice for Dawn Rowan - http://dawnrowansaga.blogspot.com/
Funny Jokes and Pics - http://funnyjokesnpics.blogspot.com/