Cultural Items Consumed Lately Part 2. More Questions than Answers.
Rock of Love (VH1)
You may be asking yourself, what’s a totally almost respectable Christian sports journalist doing watching VH1’s Rock of Love starring former Poison frontman Brett Michaels? I ask myself the same question, and can only answer that I watched a few episodes recently when I was sick, recovering from the flu at my parents’ house, and that I had a more than passing interest in Poison between the years 1988-1992 when I was an adolescent and also thought they rocked pretty hard. Although in retrospect there were many bands that rocked harder. That being said, the enduring question that I came away with after three episodes or so, is why do over ten skankily-attractive mostly blonde young women still care about being around Brett Michaels? And does removing the barrier of television or the stage for them (the girls), make Michaels infinitely less interesting…ie, do they still care about being around him after quote unquote doing life with him for the duration of the show, and finding out that he’s not all that cool and celebrity-ish anymore?
The Shack – a book by William P. Young
There mustbe a small part of me, deep down, that loves getting abusedin the blogospherebecause despite my best efforts to be trite and banal on here (see also: Rock of Love, VH1)I sometimes end up writing about things that really make people mad (see: the entire country of Jamaica a few weeks ago, or residents of the Purple State of Mind). Which brings me to The Shack – a self-published Christian book that is just going bananas in terms of sales/popularity/buzz. Nearly everywhere I go, besides the gym, football practice, and the grocery store, people ask ‘What did you think of The Shack?’” Previously, my answer was, “I don’t think of The Shack,” because I really hadn’t. And I still wouldn’t call it “my kind of book,” other than feeling like I should be halfway familiar with it.
Disclaimer #1: I haven’t read the whole thing, and probably won’t because I’m currently reading another novel that I like a lot better (Infinite Jest, which just showed up on Things White People Like which of course makes me lame). I’ve onlyread the foreword, the epilogue, and the underlined passages of TS, underlined by a pastor/theologian friend whose opinion I really like/respect.
Disclaimer #2: Because of disclaimer number 1, I’ll refrain from making any final judgements about the book other than to ask a few questions: Why do Christians always seem to fall head-over-heels for totally average fiction (see also: The Left Behind Series)? And, what is it about this book that’s touching a chord with people – is it the whole ‘at least the world is thinking about spiritual things because of this book and that’s better than nothing’ phenomenon? Is it the fact that they somehow like William P. Young’s idea of God better than the real God as revealed in scripture? Should I finish reading it? And finally, is any of it real or sort of real, or sort of based on something real as one who has read the foreword, epilogue, and some underlining may be led to believe?
Disclaimer #3: Yes, I am a littleenvious of William P. Young’s sales figures.Envy is bad.
These aren’t rhetorical questions just intended for snark value…if I still have any readers, I’d love to know what you think about this…
Christy
8/31/2008
Wow, Ted, taking on The Shack? I’d have thought after the unfortunate Jamaica incident you’d have learned your lesson…
In all seriousness, I wish you would finish it because I’d love to read your take on it. I read it a few months ago and while I have serious misgivings about Young’s theology, I was surprised (and sometimes moved) by his concept of the Trinity and how he saw them.
So I hope you’ll read it and post your thoughts.
Dawn
9/1/2008
Hmmm. The Shack. I don’t intend to read it but all the buzz has me wondering. It’s even been mentioned from the pulpit with no comment as to whether good or bad. I have read some reviews and decided it’s not worth my time. I wish I knew why the church has to be “into” all these books anyway.
Alan Richardson
9/2/2008
A good reason to finish it is street cred.
Seriously, if you don’t read it then people don’t want to hear your thoughts on it. Actually, they are generally a little more hostile than that (see: Mark Driscoll.)
On the flip side, if you’re looking to avoid drawing more ire from a large population of “it transformed my life” advocates, then perhaps not.
I read it because I know one of the authors and because it started popping up in all kinds of conversations. I’d encourage people to read with great discernment; the fiction is simply a vehicle for the theology, and the authors state as much.
k_luck96
9/2/2008
Hey Alan,
Thanks for writing and welcome aboard! It’s funny to think of Street Cred in this context but yeah, I guess you’re right. Though for a moment I had a visual of a tough guy with ciggies rolled up in his shirtsleeves, emoting about The Shack.
Seriously though, this raises a bigger question for everyone (which may only be you now) and that is: As Christians, do we have a responsibility to read the latest “sweeping the nation, transforming lives” mediocre Christian book, just because it’s sweeping the nation and we should be conversant in it? (see also: the Warren thing, Left Behind, Jabez, etc.)
In a way Challies has already told me about the bad theology, and few pages of reading has revealed that it’s not really my “thing” writing wise. But I’m still curious as to what about it is transforming people’s lives. Any thoughts?
Ted
ps – What did Driscoll say re: opining about things you haven’t read?
Alan Richardson
9/2/2008
I certainly hope we’re not obliged to read every piece of pop philosophy that comes down the pike – can only stomach so much of that. I’m of the mind that we can learn enough about a book from trustworthy people (Challies, Mohler in this case) to know whether or not we need to read it. On occasion, we might need to be those trustworthy people.
You ask a pivotal question: “What about it is transforming peoples’ lives?” Somebody asked me that yesterday, and I think it gets to the heart of the issue. Michael W Smith says (summarizing from back cover of book) that it caused him to repent of his “own lack of faith” and left him “craving for the presence of God.” Kathy Lee Gifford says (inside cover) “It will change the way you think about God forever.” Other comments from the same page; “When I read it, I felt like I was fellowshipping with God”; “This amazing story will challenge you to consider the person and the plan of God in more expansive terms than you may have ever dreamed”; “You’ll be experiencing God as never before.”
From the folks I’ve read and talked to, two things come across that get at your question:
1. It radically changed their view of God
2. It helped them deal with deep personal pain
I can see how it does #1; the book presents God very differently from scripture. Nothing new, but a bold collection of contemporary ideas about God.
It accomplishes #2 mostly through #1; it presents God as someone who’s hands are effectively tied, and who can only weep with us and make the best of the mess we give him.
The masterful stroke of the book is that it does all this through fiction. By the time you get to The Shack itself – the Mars Hill of the book – you are caught up in a story of tradegy and sorrow. You care about the character and feel his pain. It isn’t very good writing at all, but it gets to the raw emotions with surprising effectiveness. (For myself, the emotion was mostly anger at having to read about a little girl – I have one too – being brutally murdered in order to deliver the necessary amount of gut wrenching.) My hope is that people read it one of two ways – I’ve heard of both:
1. A feel good story. Cool Runnings. Whatever. Can’t really remember why I liked the book so much, but it was soooo good.
2. A catalyst for enlightening conversation about things that really matter. God. Christ. Church. Bible. Pain. Salvation. Sin. Judgment. Wrath.
Unfortunately these aren’t the only two ways the book is read.
Oh yeah, Driscoll was the one getting dry-roasted for critiquing-without-reading. E.g. http://pagels.teamexpansion.org/sqjtaipei/2008/05/06/mark-driscoll-takes-the-shack-to-the-woodshed/
k_luck96
9/2/2008
Hey Alan,
Appreciate your thoughts here – thanks for helping me think through this. I realize Driscoll got rocked for not reading the book, but I watched the video and really resonated with all of the points he made. And I think his video and the subsequent dry roasting raises another pivotal question: Do we have to read everything and/or interact with the author of a work before we can rip it in print or in a talk?
And I think I would have enough of a hard time with the idea of a hands-tied God that I would have trouble enjoying any of the rest of it. One of the reasons I love/worship God is precisely because His hands are not tied and He is sovereign.
Anyway – great stuff. Appreciate all the thoughts and interaction.
Ted
johnny5
9/8/2008
Why I would read “the Shack”: If I cared about trying to “engage culture” or somehow try to understand why so many people, even those who consider themselves Christians, would want to abandon “old, stale” (read: Biblical) views of God and incorporate “a fresh, new, revolutionary, life-changing, (insert soft-speak buzzword about change and hope) way to view God” as if old=bad and new=better. The thing is…I don’t. Writing off the “God who Is” (and He has already told us who He is…..) in favor of a more vogue and post-post-modern “hands-tied” god simply doesn’t make sense to me and I have no time for it. As for dealing with deep emotional pain, try reading Jerry Sittser’s “A Grace Disguised” which I am reading now, and which provides a real, personal walk through deep emotional pain and loss and describes how one can live in the midst of the tension, suffering and anguish with the Sovereign God who Is. I am all for changing life forever – but let’s be renewed by the transforming of our minds by the one true God who created all there is, rather than trying to invent something that makes our hearts pitter-patter, or something that makes the image of God into one of us.
Heather
10/27/2008
Whether you like the author or not….whether you are a Christian or an atheist…it’s irrelevant. The shack was a “life changer” for me. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the trinity from a different perspective. Did I agree with everything? NO! But I am thankful for the change in thought! Brillant! Christians place thier God in a box and have such a stereo typical portrayal of who He is. It’s annoying. I enjoyed this book immensely!
Cuckold
2/26/2009
Cuckold…
What a great article. I stumbled into your site when I was searching for movies and I must say I really enjoyed your post. Will be back to check more out in the future!…