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An Interview with Paul Young, Author of "The Shack"

Posted Aug 12, 08:28 AM | 0 comments | by Editor | Link

Watch Christopher Shaver’s exclusive interview with Paul Young, author of The Shack, talking about The Shack film project, future books from Windblown Media, and more:

By Christopher Shaver:

I have heard the controversy surrounding The Shack. Last week I had the chance to sit with the author, Paul Young, and a group of 80 other people to talk about the book. He discussed everything from literary devices to his theology.

The Shack follows the story of a man named Mack who has struggled with God after his daughter was murdered. He later gets a letter from “Papa” (Mack’s wife’s name for God), telling Mack they needed to meet at the shack where he last saw the remnant of his daughter’s existence.

The scenes that followed were life-changing. It showed a man who was full of hurt, and a God that could only comfort him through it all. Young articulately described the Trinity as being an old friendship that never ended between God, Jesus, and The Holy Spirit—and the best part about it is that God coaxes us into this sort of relationship daily.

The Shack shows Young’s distaste for religion and his emphasis on relationships. However, he never called himself a Universalist, as his critics have accused him of being. Young stated that Jesus died for everyone, and Christ is willing to go down any path to reconcile them to himself.

“But that doesn’t mean every path leads to God, in the book,” he explained. “Jesus said that sometimes that path doesn’t lead anywhere.”

If that is the only qualm people have with Young’s book, then I believe we could overlook that to see a much deeper thing. It’s kept me asking, “How can I show others this sort of love and reconcile with people I’ve hurt?” This book is changing lives through a message of hope and love.

“It’s funny,” Young said. “I’ve actually had non-believers giving this book to Christians, saying ‘You need to read this.’”

UPDATE 8/14/2008: There’s a discussion of The Shack going on this month over on the Emerging Women blog.

Christopher Shaver is an aspiring writer attending his final year at Gardner-Webb University.