Monday, June 22, 2009

What About The Shack?

Though I tend to shy away from popular theology and psychology books, I thought I would give The Shack, by Wm. Paul Young a read. Having done so, I am not sure what I think about the book. I cannot escape the suspicion that Young has read Dorothy Bryant's The Kin of Ata Are Waiting for You, which predates his book by at least thirty years. His book does challenge one's preconceptions about God's appearance, and I am for anything that dares us to think of God in new and unusual ways. I don't agree with Eugene Peterson's blurb on the front cover that this book will "do for our generation what John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress did for his." I should confess here that
I am not a fan of The Message, so Peterson will not sell me on many things. I wonder why it is that Americans jump on books such as The Shack. I think it has to do with a desire to get at some kind of eternal truth, but not requiring the effort of long-term deep thought and study. Young's work does not require much deep reading, though it is not without some shining moments. There is just one line in the book that stays with me, where a Jesus-like character is speaking affirmatively about the many religions of the world and people's ideas about God. And so the subject of the book, Mack, asks if that means that all roads lead to God. The Jesus character replies, "No, but I will travel down any road to find you." Aside from that, I don't think that the book breaks any new ground, especially when it comes to dealing with tragedy. Try as we may, there is no way to make tragedy easier to understand. Truth is, very bad things happen to people, regardless of how religious they may, or may not, be. Without giving away the plot of the book, I think Young copped out and did not address the agony of Mack in dealing with his tragedy. I think Dorothy Bryant did a better job of that in the above-mentioned book.
So, do not count me as a member of The Shack bandwagon.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Summer is a Time for Reading

I don't know about you, but summertime is a great time for me to do some free reading. Since classes have ended, I have more time to read, though I still work at the office daily. I have read through most of Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-1963 by Taylor Branch. It is volume I of a trilogy, and the other books, Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 1963-1965 and At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years, 1965 - 1968 are waiting on my night stand.
I tend to have several books going at once, as do many other folks. I am also reading Jesus Was a Liberal by Scotty McClennan. So far, I have found it refreshing to read someone who, also a university chaplain, thinks in many ways as do I. I also picked up recently I Was a Stranger: A Christian Theology of Hospitality by Arthur Sutherland. Another volume that I intend to get through before school starts is Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies by David Bentley Hart. Hart is a scholar who takes on Hitchens, Dawkins and others and states that their "revolutionary" arguments are nothing new.It's a deep read, so I will breathe deeply while wading through it.
If you have a favorite book that others who look at this blog may find of interest, please comment and we can all read it there. Have a great summer and happy reading to you!