When I read William Young’s novel The Shack shortly after it was published in 2007, I was so struck by its theology that I wrote a summary — not of the story but of its theology, much of which is fairly explicit in the dialogue and the narrative. Having seen the movie a few days ago, I reread what I had written. In broad outline, the movie certainly captures and conveys what Young intends to say in the novel, and I hope and pray that it will move Christians who watch it (including me) into a relationship with God more like the one God wants to have with us, and move others to find faith they have not had before. So this seems an opportune time to post my summary from a decade ago. It is here.
I know that The Shack generated controversy when it was published. The main criticism seems to be that Young’s theology is universalist, i.e. that all human beings will enjoy eternal life with God. I’m not sure where this idea comes from. After all, the novel strongly expresses the idea that God wants us to depend on him, and this is not something any of us does lightly. It requires a decision, and without that initial decision — and probably many — we will not enjoy a life dependent on him. So I don’t see the novel as universalist. If it were, it would show Mack and everyone else easily entering into relationship with God, but this isn’t what The Shack depicts.
I suspect that the problem some critics have with the novel is that it doesn’t picture the doctrine of penal substitution, that an angry Father God meted out on Jesus the punishment that human beings all deserve. Fair enough. But penal substitution is by no means the only way to understand the forgiveness of sin through the cross, and in the view of a seemingly increasing number of scholars, not the best way to understand it (see, for example, N.T. Wright’s The day the revolution began).
Another objection to Young’s theology for some critics is that it is unashamedly Arminian: free will is unabashedly asserted and indeed claimed as the source of evil. Personally, I am happy with concept of free will, but not with the idea that it alone is the source of evil. Jesus broke the dark powers on the cross, but human beings can still give them allegiance if they choose..
Others, of course, find it hard to accept Young’s depiction of God as a woman, but the reason for this is explicit in both the book and the film: Mac’s relationship with his own father was so awful that he could not have responded to a father’s love at this point. Perhaps this offends ingrained cultural sensibilities, but it is not a betrayal of the gospel..
My summary of the theology of The Shack is here.