| The Shack | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | William P Young |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Christian fiction |
| Publisher | Windblown Media |
| Publication date | May, 2007 |
| Media type | Print (paperback, later also hardcover) |
| Pages | 256 pp |
| ISBN | 0964729237 |
| OCLC Number | 166263178 |
The Shack is a Christian novel by Canadian author William P. Young, a former office manager and hotel night clerk, published in 2007.[1] The novel was self-published but became a USA Today bestseller, having sold 1 million copies as of June 8, 2008.[2] It was the #1 Paperback trade fiction seller on the New York Times best sellers list from June 2008 to early 2010.[3]
The title of the book is a metaphor for “the house you build out of your own pain”, as Young explained in a telephone interview.[4] He also states to radio host talk show Drew Marshall that The Shack "is a metaphor for the places you get stuck, you get hurt, you get damaged...the thing where shame or hurt is centered."[5]
Contents |
The novel is set in the American Northwest. The main character is Mackenzie Philips, a father of five, called "Mack" by his family and friends.
Four years prior to the main events of the story, Mack takes his three children on a camping trip to Wallowa Lake near Joseph, Oregon stopping at Multnomah Falls on the way. Two of his children are playing in a canoe when it flips and almost drowns Mack's son. Mack is able to save his son by rushing to the water and freeing him from the canoes webbing, but unintentionally leaves his youngest daughter Missy alone at their campsite. After Mack returns, he sees that Missy is missing. The police are called, and the family discovers that Missy has been abducted and murdered by a serial killer known as the "Little Ladykiller." The police find an abandoned shack in the woods where Missy was taken, her bloodied clothing is found, but her body is never located. Mack's life sinks into what he calls "The Great Sadness."
At the beginning of the book, Mack receives a note in his mailbox from "Papa," saying that he would like to meet with Mack on that coming weekend at the shack. Mack is puzzled by the note - he has no relationship with his abusive father after Mack leaves home at age 13. He suspects that the note may be from God, whom his wife Nan refers to as "Papa."
Mack's family leaves to visit relatives and he goes alone to the shack, unsure of what he will see there. He arrives and finds nothing, but as he is leaving, the shack and its surroundings are supernaturally transformed into a lush and inviting scene. He enters the shack and encounters manifestations of the three persons of the Trinity. God the Father takes the form of an African American woman who calls herself Elousia and Papa, Jesus Christ is a Middle-Eastern carpenter, and the Holy Spirit physically manifests itself as an Asian woman named Sarayu.
The bulk of the book narrates Mack's conversations with Papa, Jesus, and Sarayu as he comes to terms with Missy's death and his relationships with the three of them. Mack also has various experiences with each of them. Mack walks across a lake with Jesus, sees an image of his father in heaven with Sarayu, and has a conversation with Sophia, the personification of God's wisdom. At the end of his visit, Mack goes on a hike with Papa, who shows him where Missy's body was left in a cave.
After spending the weekend at the shack, Mack leaves and is so preoccupied with his thoughts that he is nearly killed in an automobile accident. After his recovery, he realizes that he did not in fact spend the weekend at the shack, but that his accident occurred on the same day that he arrived at the shack. He also leads the police to the cave which Papa revealed, and they find Missy's body still lying there. With the help of forensic evidence discovered at the scene, the Little Ladykiller is arrested and put on trial.
Young originally wrote The Shack as a Christmas gift for his six children with no apparent intention of publishing it. After letting several friends read the book he was urged to publish it for the general public. In 2006, Young worked closely with Wayne Jacobsen, Brad Cummings (both former pastors from Los Angeles) and Bobby Downes (filmmaker) to bring the book to publication. They had no success with either religious or secular publishers, so they formed Wind Blown Media for the sole purpose of publishing this one book. The Shack achieved its #1 best selling success via word-of-mouth and with the help of a USD$300.00 website; it is often reported that nothing else had been spent on marketing up to September 2007.[6] Additional startup funds were supplied by Brad Cummings, president of Windblown Media, who spent the maximum credit limit on 12 personal credit cards in order to publish the book.[7][8]
The Shack went largely unnoticed for over a year after its initial publication, but suddenly became a very popular seller in the summer of 2008, when it debuted at number 1 on the New York Times paperback fiction best sellers list on June 8.[3] Its success was the result of word of mouth promotion in churches and Christian-themed radio, websites, and blogs.[2]
As of May 2010, The Shack had over 10 million copies in print, and had been at number 1 on the New York Times best seller list for 70 weeks.[9] The Shack was also released in hardcover, and translated into Spanish as La Cabaña.[9] In June 2009 a German translation with the title Die Hütte – ein Wochenende mit Gott (… a Weekend with God) was released.[10] it was also translated into Croatian as "Koliba" and it became very popular in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In his "Doctrine" series, Mars Hill Church pastor Mark Driscoll criticized The Shack for presenting a non-Biblical view of the Trinity including the use of graven imagery, goddess worship, and modalism.[11] Evangelical author Chuck Colson wrote a review called "Stay Out of The Shack," in which he criticizes the attribution of "silly lines" to characters representing the three Persons of the Trinity, and the author's low view of scripture.[12] R. Albert Mohler, Jr. called The Shack "deeply troubling" on his radio show, saying that it "includes undiluted heresy".[13] Apologist Norman Geisler has also weighed in with a critique outlining 14 theological "problems" with the book.[14]
Theologian Randal Rauser has written a generally sympathetic guide to The Shack in his companion volume Finding God in the Shack (Paternoster, 2009). In the book Rauser responds to many of the objections raised by critics like Colson and Mohler.
Wayne Jacobsen, one of Young's early collaborators, wrote a detailed response to several common points of criticism. His column "Is the Shack Heresy?" was published online by Windblown Media.[15]
In July 2010 the Los Angeles Times reported that The Shack had "spawned a tangle of lawsuits over royalties and even the book's authorship."[16] Young claimed that he was owed $8million in royalties, Jacobsen and Cummings filed a suit against Young,[17] Young asked the court to dismiss or stay the claims,[18] Jacobsen and Cummings responded.[19] Hachette, the commercial publisher involved, asked the court to determine to whom it should pay royalties from the book.[20] On 10 January 2011 the court declared that it had been advised that the case between Young et al and Jacobsen et al "has been settled or is in the process of being settled" and the case was dismissed.[21][22]