At the time a Friend recommended "The Shack" (William P. Young) to me I hadnt heard of it. I asked someone in our book department about it and learned she had received another request for the book that same day. It took me about 2 weeks to read it. I deemed it my lifecycle book and only read it during workouts. Over the course of those two weeks I found that I was behind the curve on the interest in this book. Even folks who saw me reading it at The Rush had either read it or knew someone who had. So, this book is getting quick attention and mostly by word of mouth.

Whats all the excitement about Is it on its way to being a classic or just passing hype Eugene Peterson (The Message) says When the imagination of a writer and the passion of a theologian cross-fertilze the result is a novel on the order of The Shack. This book has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyans Pilgrim Progress did for his. Its that good! Thats a raving review from a Theologian.

Before reading it I had heard that the book was an allegory. I wouldnt classify it that way - there is no symbolism as Aslan portrays Jesus in Narnia. Instead, God is presented as a large black woman not symbolically shes introduced that way. This may be enough to dissuade some readers. But, the characters refer to her as Papa and he. Quickly, you can see that Young intents to challenge what you know.

Basically, it''s the story of a man whose young daughter is abducted during a family vacation, and who four years later receives a note, apparently from God, inviting him back to the shack where his daughters blood had been discovered. Once Mack arrives, not sure what hell find, God begins to teach Mack what his years in seminary could not have taught him. The personal lessons introduced cover a lot of ground; grief, faith, love, relationship, forgiveness, the Trinity, sovereignty, and salvation.

There is controversy surrounding The Shack as you will see if you read other reviews. Most will admit that the book is well written. The controversy is with the doctrinal points made by Young as Mack interacts with the very personal Godhead. I believe that the distress over some of these doctrinal issues is over played.

As one reviewer wrote: Young portrays a God who accepts everyone -- "Buddhists...Muslims, bankers and bookies" -- as his or her children no matter what their beliefs or behavior, and that Jesus has "no desire to make them Christian" (page 223); I dont think Papa was saying that at all. He actually says they come from these beliefs. And, hopefully that is true. There is only one way to God and that is through Jesus Christ. But, you can come to Him no matter your background.

Currently, The Shack has sold more than 1 million copies. It''s the best selling religious fiction book in the nation and is ranked #8 on the USA Today bestseller''s list. The marketing company for this book has spent less than 300 marketing this book - it''s all been word-of-mouth.

You''ll either love it or hate it. I''d like to hear your thoughts.

Note: I''m e-blasting this post so many more will see it (currently, there aren''t many who have subscribed to the blog). Eventually, I''ll discontinue the e-blasts and rely solely on subscriptions.

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