RON SIDER
The Shack Needs N.T. Wright
Virtually every New Testament scholar today agrees that the gospel Jesus preached was the good news of the kingdom. And no one explains more clearly and powerfully what that means than N.T.Wright. Jesus claims to be the longexpected messiah ushering in the mesOnce I started reading William Paul sianic time when, as the prophets had Young’s remarkable book, The Shack predicted, God would not only forgive (Windblown Media, 2008), I could not our sins but also begin to transform the put it down. Fortunately I was on vaca- entire broken creation, restoring right tion in Maine, so everything else could relationships among God, our neighbors, wait until I made it to the last page. the earth, and ourselves. In the common life of the early This book deserves its place at the top church, we can see how this new mesof the New York Times best-seller list. The Shack offers a powerful portrayal sianic community reflected transformed of the Trinity, God’s astounding mercy economic, social, gender, and racial relaand forgiveness, and God’s persistent tionships. To be sure, sin was not fully wooing that respects human freedom. conquered even in the church. But the Again and again,Young gets important resurrection proved that the ultimate things right: God is profoundly personal transformation of all things had already but neither male nor female; God longs begun and would be completed when to heal our deepest hurts but does not Christ returned to finish his victory compel us to repent; at the center of over evil. Christian faith is the astounding intimacy of a living personal relationship with the creator of the universe, who delights in our friendship far more than we can imagine. I am sure that untold thousands of unbelievers will pick up this book with the humble title and be surprised to discover a wonderful portrait of an inviting, loving God. N.T.Wright’s recent Surprised by Hope But there is a problem. One would never guess from reading The Shack that (HarperOne, 2008), which I also read Jesus’ gospel was the good news of the on vacation, spells all this out in a fashkingdom of God.The picture of the gos- ion that is simply superb. He shows how pel and Christian faith that is presented our ultimate destiny is living in resurin The Shack is classic evangelical indi- rected bodies on a transformed earth (Rom. 8:19ff.) in the presence of the vidualism at its very best. The gospel is forgiveness of sins, per- risen Lord. Even the groaning creation sonal healing, transformed personal will be restored to wholeness. Even the relationships, and an intimate personal glory of the nations, the best of human relationship with the creator of the gal- civilization, will be purged of its evil axies. All that, of course, is simply splen- and brought into the kingdom (Rev. did, and if that were the whole of the 21:24-22:2). Wright helps us understand how gospel, I would be thrilled with God’s gift to us. But according to Jesus, the Plato and Western individualism have led us to reduce Jesus’ gospel to personal gospel is all that—and so much more. PRISM 2008
40
salvation for individual souls. Plato’s emphasis on the soul (we have a good soul trapped in an evil body) has led many Christians to focus almost exclusively on saving individual souls so they can go to heaven. If that is all Jesus’ gospel is concerned about, then caring for creation and working for justice now are wasted effort. But if Jesus’ gospel is the good news of the kingdom where everything, not just our souls, is being restored to wholeness, and if that kingdom has already begun and will be consummated when Christ returns to give us resurrected bodies dancing and reveling in a renewed good earth, then our work now for justice, peace, and a restored environment is part of God’s grand design. I hope that the author of The Shack will read Wright’s Surprised by Hope. If he does, he will see that virtually all that he describes so vividly and wonderfully is true and good, but it just belongs in a larger frame. (To be sure, very occasionally, he will modify a few things, like his suggestion that God is only interested in relationships, not institutions. The personal God he depicts so beautifully is about the business of restoring not just personal relationships but also broken social structures and even the groaning creation). Perhaps William Young understands this already. His vivid portrayal of the Trinity’s delight in the good earth certainly shows that he is not a Platonist. But there is no hint in The Shack that the gospel affects social structures as well as personal relationships. I hope Young writes more novels—and that they reflect the fullness of the gospel. If you have not yet read these two excellent books, buy them immediately. But as you revel in Young’s gripping portrayal of how God delights in a personal relationship with you and me, remember that this glorious truth belongs within the larger picture of God’s agenda of making all things new. n