A friend here at GS told me about this book so I picked it up last week and have been reading it the past few days.

I don't normally read Christian fiction--at least, not by anyone who's still alive. But this story is basically Theodicy set in narrative context. The main character, Mack, is a husband and father who experiences the horror of having his youngest daughter abducted and killed by a serial killer while they are on a camping trip. They find the remains of her dress in an old abandoned cabin. Sometime later, Mack receives a note in his mailbox that turns out to be an invitation back to that cabin for a conversation. The one who sent the note turns out to be God. Mack goes back to the cabin and encounters the Triune God in quite unexpected ways.

The conversations center around suffering, the nature of God, the trinity and the judgment/love paradox...at least thus far. I haven't finished the book yet. But it's very much reminiscent of the conversations between Ransom and the Un-man in C.S. Lewis' "Perelandra" in that it is deep theology disguised as dialogue between two fictional characters. A similar approach is found in many of Peter Kreeft's books, particularly "Socrates Meets Jesus", which I highly recommend.

Given the current flood of Christian fiction that is theologically famished, I think "The Shack" is a diamond in the rough. At times the dialogue may be a bit artificial. But overall I'm enjoying it. It would be a good book to give to those outside the Christian faith as well because it presents things from such a different angle than normal, and therefore offers an effective apologetic to a cynical post-christian culture.

JMS

I would love to hear feedback or reviews from others who've read it as well--positive or negative.