**Please be advised I express opinions below about religion, which is a very personal subject - please do not take offense! Just my opinion y'all.**
The Shack is a tale about Mackenzie "Mack" Phillips, who struggles with his faith after his youngest daughter, Missy, is abducted and murdered on a family camping trip in Oregon. Mack's family leaves to visit relatives and he is lured by a letter from God to visit "the shack," where Missy's bloody dress was found (her only discovered remains) years before. He arrives and the shack is supernaturally transformed into a warm, lush cabin, surrounded by beautiful gardens. It is there he encounters manifestations of the three persons of the Holy Trinity: God the Father takes the form of an African American woman named Papa, Jesus Christ is a Middle-Eastern carpenter, and the Holy Spirit physically manifests itself as an Asian woman named Sarayu.
I will be the first to admit that I was very skeptical about this book, both before I read it and within its first few chapters. Growing up surrounded by southern evangelism has been a big part of why I converted to Catholicism. I don't want mystification or modernization of what I feel is best expressed through tradition and ceremony. Why do so many protestants feel the need to make religion so casual and modern? I don't have any interest in a power point presentation and a guitar player at church, nor do I entertain the "sermons" of an uneducated man who thinks his literal interpretation of the Bible is the way, the truth and the light. I know not all protestant churches are like this, and I know there are some bad Catholic eggs out there. But we're all entitled to our preferences- again, religion is personal!
I was pleasantly surprised at parts of the book, despite my skepticism, but my review is not without its critiques. First, there is a theme of rejecting your "preconceived notions" of religion (e.g., God is manifested as a black woman in this book to spice things up). I think we're splitting hairs here, Young, and I'm not sure that this identifies most peoples' largest struggle with their faith. Try again. Another miss by Young- implying that people reject God and religion during times of adversity. But isn't that when we usually seek God and religion? I know exactly what I'm doing when my plane hits serious turbulence- sayin' my prayers y'all. But when I safely land? Ummm...planning my vacation casualwear for the evening? Texting my Momma so she doesn't have an anxiety attack over my whereabouts? (Love you Mom!) Last, but not least, I don't know that Young answered any questions for me. There were no "eureka" moments, like...OH! That's what you mean when you say "Jesus died for my sins!" OH! That's why bad things happen to good people! Faith is faith- you don't have all the answers and you don't feel like you need them to believe. So setting out to accomplish otherwise...well, it didn't provide me with any additional clarity. One hidden line in the book acknowledged this and implied that "some stories remain untold and we don't know why." That's more of an answer for me than trying to answer my questions.
What it did provide was some insight into Young's personal interpretation of the Holy Trinity, which was refreshingly accepting, open and free. Also he envisions some sort of heaven where God cooks scones with a butter and jelly assortment and I can get on board with that (seriously don't get me started on assorted mini-jellies. LOVE.). His dogma is all-inclusive and, despite limiting literal interpretations out there, we are all God's children and he (she?) is an accepting, forgiving force that loves us abundantly. He says "the Bible doesn't teach you to follow rules, it is a picture of Jesus." Rules are a way to gain independence from God's love and to give yourself the tools judge others. Thank you Young! I concur! And his focus on fantasy and dreams was creative and may help those of us who pray to open our minds to how we identify and listen to answers. But let's be serious, Salman Rushdie has completely ruined the trade of religious imagery for everyone else, including dear Young, and to say his attempts were inferior to 'ol Rushdie's would be an understatement.** But thoughtful nonetheless.
So overall, I dig his dogma, and I appreciate his personalization and explanation of the Holy Trinity. And I can see this touching someone who has just experienced overwhelming loss. But not a real source of answers for me because, after all, faith means not having all of those, right?
**Salman Rushdie is a British-Indian novelist whose style is often classified as "magical realism" mixed with religious historical fiction. His book "The Satanic Verses" contains mind-blowing Muslim imagery, which caused controversy in the Islamic world because of what was perceived as an irreverent depiction of the prophet Muhammad. Allegedly the poor fella still has to travel with a security detail because he's such a wanted man. Fab read y'all.*
Yay! I'm glad you liked it. I felt the same sentiment about turning away from God, but not about mini jellies, sadly.
ReplyDeleteI loved the "soul garden" and enjoyed the ideas about man needing rules to live, that God is perfect and since we are in his/her/whomever image that we technically are perfect too but can't figure that out without rules. Pretty cool. Or that's how I remember reading it, a few months ago.