Thursday, April 16, 2009
CURIOUS
Has anyone read The Shack? And what did you think of it? Seems to be a book that people either love or hate. I'm not going to give my opinion right now, except to say that I'm reading it for the third time and that it does shake up your comfort zones. (actually that info may provide some clues about how I feel about the book.)
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7 comments:
Hi Jackie! I loved The Shack and read it twice..highlighted lots of passages and bought it for friends and family. I found it to be more along the lines of how I think God would want us to think, than any form of mainstream religion. The section on forgiveness was very meaningful to me and I shared it with a friend..who'd been molested as a child. He'd had a hard time with forgiveness as he thought that meant that he had to reestablish a relationship with the person he forgave. I sent him that section of the book and it was helpful, I think. Anyway, I absolutely loved it and found it life-changing! Oh..and I even downloaded the audio version to my iPod. I guess I reallllly, love it! Blessings, Lisa
I have not read it...Matt did. don't kow what he thought.
Also, Robin read it, and you can find her reaction here:
http://desertyear.blogspot.com/2009/03/i-may-have-figured-it-out.html
Yeah -- I hated it.
I understand that some very conservative Christians object to it on theologiocal grounds. But theologically speaking, I know plenty of mainliners who find it on target -- most of the people I know find that the theology pretty much reflects their own. One of my friends says she likes it because she thinks it is a good corrective to what many nonchurchgoers think about faith, especially if they are basing their impressions on the Left Behind books or Joel Osteen or Jerry Falwell. I can see her point.
But I think a lot of The Shack's theology is sexist and that it trivializes suffering -- despite neither being its intent.
Haven't read it...don't want to. Books dealing with religion aren't my thing.
XOXO
Found it totally intriguing the first time around. Read it with my women's spiritual study group and, like Lisa #1, I then highlighted. I was curious about the denunciations and read fundamentalist criticisms online, but their Christianity is not mine. Many passages spoke to my heart. It moved one member of our group to tears because it gave her words she'd been trying to express for years. I plan to re-read it this summer and ruminate in my journal. Like the description of Sarayu, I found the concepts hard to wrap my mind around completely the first two skimmings and need to read again. I do agree that the style is saccharine, but not unbearable, and as a searcher new to theological books, I guess I need what may be an oversimplified explanation of suffering (also free will, the trinity, fractals, and other big questions), but it was a lot to gnaw on for me. I found it enlightening.
*debbi*
Sorry to say I have not heard of it! Sounds interesting though. Especially since Robin hated it and so many of you all loved it and read it more than once. Very interesting.
I started to read it and ended up throwing it against the wall. Like Robin, I found it sexist, and I also felt like it mocked my grief.
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