Shack Author Discusses Novel
Feburary 18, 2009 -- Where is God in a world filled with such unspeakable pain?
When Mackenzie Philips broaches this subject with "God" in the New York Timesbest-seller, The Shack, the answers he receives challenge his beliefs about God’s character, power, mercy, and grace, as well as his perception of what it means to be loved by Him.
Sponsored by Christian Reformed Home Missions as a way to further discussion on such topics as God’s role in our suffering, author Paul Young spoke to more than 800 visitors to the campus of Trinity Christian College, Palos Heights, Ill. on Tuesday night. The event was hosted by the Church Connection Initiative at Trinity.
The wildly popular self-published work of fiction is described as “somewhat autobiographical” by Young. He said the story draws on his life experiences—from staggering losses to transformational healing—and was written for his six children, with no intention to publish. In fact, the first 15 copies were printed at the local office supply store to give as gifts to his family and friends.
How the number of books grew from the first 15 to the one million copies distributed through Windblown Media in the space of a few years is explained by Young as "a God thing, not a Paul thing."
Throughout the evening, Young shared various stories, which elicited uproarious laughter and even tears from the audience. He shared just a few of the thousands of responses he has received from readers all over the world who say their lives have been changed by reading The Shack.
Young also addressed some of the "push back" he has experienced from those who question his theology and his portrayal of God the Father as a gregarious African-American woman.
"All imagery created to represent God is inadequate," he said. "God doesn’t fit into our categorical boxes."
Young credits his life as the son of missionaries with his own thinking "outside of the box." He was born in Alberta, Canada, but spent the first decade of his life with his missionary parents in the highlands of Netherlands, New Guinea (West Papua), among the Dani, a stone-age tribal people.
He later graduated summa cum laude from Warner Pacific College in Portland, Ore., with a degree in religion. Currently he works as a general manager, janitor, and salesman for a small manufacturer’s rep company in Oregon where he lives with his wife Kim.
Young said he has always been a writer and has written stories and poems over the years to give as gifts to family and friends. "I’m not a real author," he said. "I’m an accidental one."
The Shack has been No. 1 on the New York Timesbest seller list for 35 weeks. Amazingly it did not "climb," according to Young, but simply appeared one day at the top.
This "God thing," as Young describes it, seems to continue to surprise the author, as much as his portrayal of the Holy Spirit as an Asian woman surprises readers. And the meaning of her name Sarayu, according to Young, seems to represent how The Shack has affected so many thousands of readers—like "a wind that takes you by surprise."
--Amanda Cleary, Trinity Christian College Communications