BOOKS: The Shack by William B. Young

[hopefull]

Maggie Ann, you have made the point perfectly. If there were only one posting in all these hundreds which have been posted, to best characterize the situation, I would choose yours as the essence of openess (willing to read the book), obedience (stopping when you understood what was happening), charity (caring for our brothers and sisters) and discernment (understanding the real forces at work here.) Thank you and God bless!
Hopefull

 

[SilenceISgolden]

I understand I am probably dangling myself like a pinata for the masses after reading all of the replies. BUT, here I go anyway.

I am a cradle Catholic. I stopped going to church briefly as a young adult (maybe a couple years) and then slowly found my way back making my faith my own. The problem I have ALWAYS struggled with is a personal relationship with God. He was always this powerful force waiting to send me into the fires of hell for whatever thing I did wrong. Not a loving father craving a relationship with me. This is mainly because of my upbringing but I have struggled through out my life trying to love God with all that I am, trusting in his love for me and relinquishing control. So here is the part where you all yell…this book had a HUGE impact on that part of my life. I am now a BETTER Catholic. I am far, so very far from perfection but I am taking steps. I needed that healing and the imagery of the loving Father we have in heaven. I have been attending bible studies for 6+ years faithfully, I attend mass weekly and daily when my three kids get up in time, but nothing came near to touching me and sending me running to God as my FATHER who loves me, delights in me and wants nothing from me except ALL of me, heart mind & soul.

I saw the anti religion stuff, I saw the controversy and I did walk away from the book for about a month in the beginning. But it never made me think, OH YEAH they are right I’ll leave the church now. I wouldn’t give this book to a kid who is in their formative years. I have recommended it to my adult siblings and they have had similar experience as I have had.

So there you go. Let the flogging begin! Of course I know you will do it lovingly.

 

[peggytas]

No flogging from me! My whole point has always been that I would not recommend this book to a person who is not well catechised. I am pleased that you saw all of the errors and slams against the church. There are some good things here, and if the book had a positive impact on you and strengthed you in the true faith, I think that is wonderful. This is not a book that should be the subject of Catholic study. There is too much good stuff out there to study.

 

[Ryckie]

To SilenceISGolden, I almost left the church and did a U turn to an amazing spiritual renewal before I read The Shack. I also had done many bible studies some non-denominational and some Baptist and became very confused and critical of my own Church. So I started listening and reading stuff by Scott Hahn [Catholic convert]. His studies are very instrumental in my seeing Our God as a loving Father, which my earthly father was not. So as much as I choke on having to admit the negative posts may have been partially correct but a lot over reactive] I can understand the trepidation a little bit.
However, I did enjoy the book and feel like it was somewhat healing for me to read. I think God chose the timing for when I did read it.

 

[4EverHis]

I just finished the book and felt a sense of “something is not right” thoughout the story. Mr. Young writes his personal theology as if from the “Mouth of God” in the story, giving it (his personal opinion) a certain “infalilablity” to the reader. This is a very subtle, dangerous book, in my opinion, for a Catholics who are not strong intheir faith, and who don’t recognize the departure from true Christianity - Catholic teaching. Readers beware!

A friend wondered why Mr Young includes a feminine God the Father and Holy Spirit, and ventured that without Mary in the picture, protestents and others try to find “her” somepalce else. Thus, the “feminine god” in “The Shack”. Don’t recomend it to your Catholic friends, unless they can read it critically and see where the problems are.

great points…

it sounds like God has used this book in some people’s lives, because He can use anything, but I do think it has some serious theological errors.

 

[cshoremom]

Any ideas about this book… Have not read it yet… wondering if, as a Catholic, I would enjoy it?
Ideas??
Thank you!

 

[katrntogo]

I had a fellow Catholic recommend it & so I bought it. While I read it all, I felt it was a waste of money as I felt uncomfortable with parts of it, there are some parts that do not go hand in hand with Catholicism. It’s been long enough ago since I read it that I don’t remember exactly what the issues were that I didn’t feel were aligned, but I’d sure give you my copy of the book for the cost of shipping. But then, I don’t even think it’s worth that cost. & I love reading.

 

[bgic]

I read the book. It has a good Christian message, but is not Catholic per se. I would recommend it just because it is entertaining. It will get you thinking and may even strengthen your Catholic faith in a round about way.

 

[Liraco]

It depends, some like it, others don’t. What you should keep in mind regardless is its poor theology, it’s certainly not Catholic.

If you read it, take it as the fiction that it is, if you actually want to learn or read something more theologically charged then there’s tons of books for that (read something by G.K. Chesterton, Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and there’s also contemporary authors I can’t think of right now).

If you want to read an interesting novel that happens to be Catholic I hear many good things about The Death of a Pope.

 

[Seek_Sainthood]

I have read “The Shack” twice and enjoyed it thoroughly on both occasions. I did not read it as a theological text or evaluate it in any way as a catechitical resource, but as a story.

I suppose if I were to read it with a copy of the Catechism next to me I could pick it apart, but to what end. For me, the read was positive and told a story of healing and renewal of a mans faith.

I am an “in the game” catholic and if asked, I would recommend it comfortably.

Gods Peace

 

[trinitybeliever]

I read the book up to and part way through Chapter 12. Up to that point I had an unsetteled feeling in regards to many of the ideas put forward in the story. In chapter 12 I was sad to see an all out assault on the Catholic Church.

I firmly believe this book is dangerously seductive in its imagery and because it mixes many virtuous truths and weaves in heresies about the nature of God and relationships.

I am sad for the many who defend this book on the basis it is a “good story”. Satan has lured many into error under the pretense of a good story.

Lastly; the paperback version litarally has a prostalization effort in the back called “The Missy Project”. That’s very disturbing to me in this modern age of anti-Catholicism.
The book is defininatly a soft pedal new age philosophy aimed I believe to pull souls away from “organized religion”.
It wouldn’t surprise me if it was on Oprahs book reccomendation list.

 

[trinitybeliever]

Here is the link to the “Missy Project” and the verbage.
theshackbook.com/missy-project.html
please read it.

 

[cshoremom]

Thanks for your (name removed by moderator)ut!!!
I ended up reading it… I enjoyed it, from a literary standpoint… I liked the dialogue between Mack and Papa, Jesus and Sariah… very clever…
But it didn’t “move me” the way it boasted that it would…
my faith as a Catholic is firm…SO IT DIDN’T MAKE ME SEE THINGS IN A NEW LIGHT… iT WAS GOOD… IT WAS FICTION… ENTERTAINING… NICE STORY…

AGAIN, THANKS FOR YOUR KIND RESPONSES… HELPful and insightful…

OOPS… caps were on… too tired to change it!

 

[emma411]

I read the book up to and part way through Chapter 12. Up to that point I had an unsetteled feeling in regards to many of the ideas put forward in the story. In chapter 12 I was sad to see an all out assault on the Catholic Church.

I firmly believe this book is dangerously seductive in its imagery and because it mixes many virtuous truths and weaves in heresies about the nature of God and relationships.

I am sad for the many who defend this book on the basis it is a “good story”. Satan has lured many into error under the pretense of a good story.

Lastly; the paperback version litarally has a prostalization effort in the back called “The Missy Project”. That’s very disturbing to me in this modern age of anti-Catholicism.
The book is defininatly a soft pedal new age philosophy aimed I believe to pull souls away from “organized religion”.

I agree. Seductive is what it is. And to use it in the nature it was in is just plain sad. I read the book as I mentioned earlier in this thread. It’s such a sneaky way to lure catholics away from religion. I barely heard about the book but saw it in a christian catalog. It looked very interesting, and I briefly read the little part on what the book was about. But when I began reading it and struggled to finish I was torn with mix emotions. I ended up throwing it away when I discovered all the red flags that were in the book, especially when it mentioned the part of organized religion just as you said. I too would not be surprised if it ended up on Oprah’s book club list, that would really be sad.

May God Bless You
It wouldn’t surprise me if it was on Oprahs book reccomendation list.

 

[Dancelittleewok]

My mom read this book and the “Purpose Driven Life.” (I did read the latter when I didn’t know better.) She has now passed this book on to my sister after I passed on it once I heard it portrayed God as a woman.

My mom goes to Mass practically every Sunday, goes to Confession once a year as required, is in charge of helping our parish getting ready to the food kitchen and is active in the parish but she’s not well grounded in her faith. Faith is more of an doing thing rather than a thinking thing. Hearing all this, I hope it hasn’t hurt whatever theology she has. If I correct her on theological things or suggest she read the Catechism, I’m either too “conservative”, “intolerant” or “cerebral.” This passed Sunday, she admitted that the Church is right on some things i.e. chastity and birth control but wrong in others i.e. homosexuality. She seems more prone to buy a book if it got good reviews or was on t.v.

I don’t know what to do.

In my non-practicing phase (more intellectual less doing things like Mass), I decided to give all my good Catholic books away and she picked out some she wanted to read–mainly the ones by or about Mother Angelica from EWTN.

What should I do?

 

[Joe_5859]

I have read “The Shack” twice and enjoyed it thoroughly on both occasions. I did not read it as a theological text or evaluate it in any way as a catechitical resource, but as a story.

I suppose if I were to read it with a copy of the Catechism next to me I could pick it apart, but to what end. For me, the read was positive and told a story of healing and renewal of a mans faith.

I am an “in the game” catholic and if asked, I would recommend it comfortably.

Gods Peace

Just curious, but what’s an “in the game” Catholic and how does that differ from an ordinary Catholic?

 

[emma411]

Dear trinitybeliever,

I made a big OOoops!! By accident as I was replying to your post, somehow I forgot to separate my quote from yours, so it ends up looking like you wrote the whole thing. My apologies and hope you can forgive my error. While I was agreeing with you I just wanted to point out a big grammatical mistake on my part. I will have to be a more attentive next time. Thank you and God Bless!

emma411

 

[Schretter]

I read the Shack. I found it entertaining and I do believe that there are elements of its “teachings” that are in accordance with the Catechism. I disagree with its references and value to religion and the purpose of the commandments. I believe that it is contrary to even the book’s thesis. We must live our life for God and seek relationship with him. Religion and its rules have value to achieve that and were instituted by Christ as explained in scripture. To indicate that organized religion is not a creation of God but sinful man is to ignore the salvation history. The Rules and the Religion are to bring us to relationship, by directing our denial of self in His service.

The book is good, but I caution against accepting its inherent teachings as Gospel. It is not the “Newest Testament”.

 

[trinitybeliever]

Dear trinitybeliever,

I made a big OOoops!! By accident as I was replying to your post, somehow I forgot to separate my quote from yours, so it ends up looking like you wrote the whole thing. My apologies and hope you can forgive my error. While I was agreeing with you I just wanted to point out a big grammatical mistake on my part. I will have to be a more attentive next time. Thank you and God Bless!

emma411

No offense taken Emma.
God Bless, db

 

[Seek_Sainthood]

Just curious, but what’s an “in the game” Catholic and how does that differ from an ordinary Catholic?

It’s simple, I use “in the game” to replace “practicing”. I played some sports when I was young and although I still learn in practice, I always like to apply what I learn by being “in the game”.