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Driscoll Critiquing The Shack
Seems like every Christian I know is reading The Shack by William P Young right now. I have definitely heard some people say things to me that raised some flags. I do still need to read it myself, once I finish off other books currently listed on my homepage, but I have read direct quotes from the book that have me questioning the book from the get go. Here’s a great video of Driscoll commentating on the book, showing some fairly large biblical inaccuracies.
I guess I definitely connect with Driscoll’s frustration, because I know so many people who read the next big ‘trendy’ book and endorse it as if its the Bible. I’m all for reading books, particularly some that you don’t agree with or that push you a bit, but make sure you do so discerningly. Whether its Tony Jones or John Piper, get some Bible knowledge in you so you can tell truth from opinion, particularly misguided opinion. Just because it sounds nice, doesn’t mean its biblical.
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I haven’t heard of this book until this entry.
Strange.
Too busy reading Peter Rollins =)
Chris,
Do you really believe anyone is going to read “The Shack” and believe that God is like an African-American woman, the Holy Spirit is like an Asian woman, and Jesus is, well, a Middle Eastern man? (OK the last one should be obvious.) I mean, come on, it’s fiction! Let’s give people a little credit for being able to discern fiction from fact.
Driscoll’s critique is based on a really ridiculous LITERAL interpretation of “The Shack.” And the really telling thing to me is how his theology of the Holy Spirit conveniently supports his view of the pastor being OVER the congregation, the husband being OVER the wife, etc. Where’s the mutual submission/accountability? That’s equally “biblical,” right? Nowhere to be found in Driscoll’s theology, apparently.
Forget “The Shack” for a minute — Anyone else see how crazy dangerous Driscoll’s theology is?
Its funny you point out the reference to Driscoll on husband/wife interaction, considering he just preached on that last week when dealing with doctrine of love. I do suggest you listen to his words on the subject and not my summation of him, but he’s fairly big on the equality of Man and Woman. He points out as both created in the image of God, we are all equal in that image and likeness. They express things like emotions differently, but they are equal. Also, when dealing with dominion, he points out that the man/woman are a team, just as the Holy Spirit is the helpmate in the trinity, woman is the helpmate to man in scripture.
Now, I’m definitely not a 100% driscoll defender, because I don’t completely agree with his hard line on woman in ministry amongst a few other things, but I’m hard to find the ‘danger’ of his theology. Here’s the deal with me, and why I would agree with him on the Shack. Most people are biblically illiterate… I don’t think I’ll get much argument there. And when that happens, people are more easily influenced by a pseudo-spiritual fiction book. Now, I don’t believe so much that people are going to read The Shack and literally think that God is an African-American woman, but when God tells us not to do something, I try to be faithful to that. That’s the bottom line, to me. Its less about whether someone has a hard time discerning fiction from reality, and more about whether scripture has something to say about it.
I guess the problem I have with bashing this book comes from an artists perspective. Young has never come out and said his book is a theological treatise on the Trinity. This is a piece of art, a creative work expressing faith. My question is should we be censoring all art done my ” christians.” And how much liberty does the artist have. No one in my sphere of friends has seen this book as ” pure ” theology.” There is other places to go, to look for that.
Simple answer, Mr. Cole: the artist does not have that much liberty. And to assume that Mr. Young is not trying to make a point about theology through this book is intellectually dishonest. Christian artists have liberty, but as Christians they should also exercise discernment. Far from exercising discernment though, the author here actual takes out a stick and bludgeons God’s commandments for a couple hundred pages. This stuff is dangerous since, as has already been stated, most people are biblically illiterate. Remember “The DaVinci Code”? That didn’t even masquerade as Christian fiction and it caused a world of crap.
I hope this makes sense.