The Shack
Who hasn't yet heard of "The Shack"? Lately it has been coming up in a lot of conversations.
Usually the conversation about this book is pretty mysterious. No one wants to give anything away about the book, but they seem driven to talk about it.
People say, "I've read it and now I want to think about it some more." or "I need to read it again so that I can absorb it better." or "Sometime I want to talk to someone about this book."
So far, I haven't been in a conversation that went much farther than that.
I think there are two reasons for that.
The first reason is that there is often someone present who has not read the book and no one wants to give them any biases for or against the book.
The second reason, I think, is a bit of fear. The book challenges some things that we have always believed. Maybe 'challenges' is a bad word. The author tries to put things in a new light. He tries to help us see things from a different angle. He enlarges the picture, so to speak.
If we say we liked it, will people judge us? If we say we didn't like it, will people judge us? If we agree with the new ideas will we be heretics? If we don't agree will we be rigid and judgmental? Scary.
Scarier still is what we think of ourselves. If we believe this, will we be right? If we don't believe this way, will we be right? Is it important to be right? What if we are wrong?
On a side note, since it is obvious I have read the book, I will say a few things about it. It is a fairly gripping story, but a little bit too sentimental/over-emotional for me. The reason I write about it is more because of the ideas presented than because I loved the writing. In fact, there were times when the writing frustrated me enough that I wanted to throw out the ideas because I felt they were not presented well.
I guess they were presented well enough to make me think about them after I was done with the book. Maybe I will go back and look at some parts again and think about it some more. After that I might like to talk to someone about the book...
Usually the conversation about this book is pretty mysterious. No one wants to give anything away about the book, but they seem driven to talk about it.
People say, "I've read it and now I want to think about it some more." or "I need to read it again so that I can absorb it better." or "Sometime I want to talk to someone about this book."
So far, I haven't been in a conversation that went much farther than that.
I think there are two reasons for that.
The first reason is that there is often someone present who has not read the book and no one wants to give them any biases for or against the book.
The second reason, I think, is a bit of fear. The book challenges some things that we have always believed. Maybe 'challenges' is a bad word. The author tries to put things in a new light. He tries to help us see things from a different angle. He enlarges the picture, so to speak.
If we say we liked it, will people judge us? If we say we didn't like it, will people judge us? If we agree with the new ideas will we be heretics? If we don't agree will we be rigid and judgmental? Scary.
Scarier still is what we think of ourselves. If we believe this, will we be right? If we don't believe this way, will we be right? Is it important to be right? What if we are wrong?
On a side note, since it is obvious I have read the book, I will say a few things about it. It is a fairly gripping story, but a little bit too sentimental/over-emotional for me. The reason I write about it is more because of the ideas presented than because I loved the writing. In fact, there were times when the writing frustrated me enough that I wanted to throw out the ideas because I felt they were not presented well.
I guess they were presented well enough to make me think about them after I was done with the book. Maybe I will go back and look at some parts again and think about it some more. After that I might like to talk to someone about the book...
Comments