In Young’s sleeper hit novel, God sets aside a weekend to lead Mack, a man overwhelmed by a family tragedy, into a more trusting relationship with Herself. Yes, Herself. All three persons of the Trinity take turns reconstructing Mack’s notions of God. His image of God as a white man is among the first challenged.
Discourses on freewill and theodicy transpire over meals and yard work. Putting words in God’s mouth is a risky enterprise, and the lapses into trite Sunday School formulas are precariously balanced by more winsome moments. The result is an extremely human rendition of God but a generally orthodox and thought-provoking one.
The Shack serves as a rendezvous point for any whose pain has obscured a sense of the presence, or goodness, of God-with-us.
Windblown Media, 248 pp., $14.99
