The Shack is a novel written by a businessman from Oregon named William P. Young. This novel takes the lifelong question, "Where is God in a world that has so much pain?" It's a tale that revolves around Mackenzie Philips (Mack), a father of five. Four years before the story begins, Mack's youngest daughter, Missy, was abducted during a family vacation. The body of Missy was never found, but the police did find evidence in an old abandoned shack that led investigators to believe that she had been viciously slain by a serial killer called the “Little Ladykiller.”
When the novel begins, Mack, whose life has been consumed by what he calls “The Great Sadness” receives a note written from Papa (who is later found out to be God). In the letter, Papa invites Mack to return to the old abandoned shack to spend some time together. Mack isn’t sure what to think of the note, but he pushes his uncertainties away and embarks on a weekend trip where he encounters many supernatural trials.
Mack is subjected to the appearances of the three persons of the trinity in humanly form. Papa (God), whose name is Elousia appears in the form of a full-figured African-American woman. Jesus is a middle-aged man of Middle-Eastern descent, and the Holy Spirit, called Sarayu a small, subtle and diverse woman of Asian descent. Mack also meets for a time with Sophia, who, is the personification of God's wisdom.
The reader learns that Mack has been given this opportunity to meet with God so he could learn to deal with his Great Sadness the overwhelming pain and anger resulting from the death of his daughter. There is very little action in The Shack and the bulk of the book is dialog. The majority of the dialog occurs as the members of the Trinity communicate wit...
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...novel, “deeply subversive,” “scripturally incorrect” and “dangerous.” Whereas Minister Steve McVey says, “A person discovers grace when you come to the end of your own self-sufficiency and realize you have been made acceptable through Jesus Christ and him alone. You can't score points with God."
The Shack is a book of soul searching, hope, and most of all controversy. Through Mack’s trials, he is able to find God and closure after the four long years living in darkness after his daughters’ murder. This novel takes the historical message of Scripture to entirely new territories by giving insight on difficult theological concepts and questions, such as, “How can we know God?” and “What has Christ accomplished?” Although heavily debated, the author does an outstanding job of laying his personal viewpoints out in a way anyone, no matter race or religion can relate.
In “The Poisonwood Bible,” Barbara Kingsolver illuminates on how a rift from one’s homeland and family can simultaneously bring agonizing isolation and an eye opening perspective on life through Leah Price’s character development. As a child exiled away to a foreign country, Leah faces the dysfunction and selfishness of her family that not only separates them from the Congolese, but from each other while she also learns to objectify against tyrants and embrace a new culture.
In the novel, Saving Grace, author Lee Smith follows the life of a young woman who was raised in poverty by an extremely religious father. In this story Grace Shepherd, the main character, starts out as a child, whose father is a preacher, and describes the numerous events, incidents, and even accidents that occur throughout her childhood and towards middle age, in addition, it tells the joyous moments that Grace experienced as well. Grace also had several different relationships with men that all eventually failed and some that never had a chance. First, there was a half brother that seduced her when she was just a child, then she married a much older man when she was only seventeen, whose “idea of the true nature of God came closer to my own image of Him as a great rock, eternal and unchanging” (Smith 165). However, she succumbs to an affair with a younger man that prompted a toxic relationship. What caused her to act so promiscuous and rebel against everything she had been taught growing up? The various men in Grace 's life all gave her something, for better or worse, and helped to make her the person she became at the end of the novel.
Kozol, Jonathan. Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation. New York: Harper, 1996.
Arguably, throughout history, the most influential book ever written has been “The Holy Bible.” Whether it is a historical document, a children’s story, a fable, a story of moral lessons, or a multitude of novels; “The Holy Bible” and its themes have been passed down through generations. If one were to look at “The Holy Bible” as a whole then one could say that the themes of the Bible are all about freedom and how one has a responsibility to keep that freedom. In “Letter from Birmingham Jail” King relates to several themes mentioned in “The Holy Bible.” Themes such as justice, non-violence, equality, and freedom in King’s work greatly reflect what freedom and responsibility really mean.
James Baldwin said, “If the concept of God has any validity or any use, it can only be to make us larger, freer, and more loving. If God cannot do this, then it is time we got rid of Him.” In the multifarious works of Baldwin, there are numerous examples of his sharp rejection of Catholicism, Yahweh, and the ambiguous ideologies of the church. However, Baldwin eloquently compares and cites many of his keynotes and allusions to biblical passages and symbols of the Old Testament. “Synthesizing empirical data and theoretical insights, he offers a compelling vision of the complex unfolding of nineteenth-century African American religiosity” (White 1-8). His 1953 novel Go Tell It on the Mountain directly condemns the ultraconservative faction of religion by presenting the theme of the “Threshing Floor”. Yet, he also erects the religion with his use of the Old and New Testament writings. Baldwin so eloquently uses these biblical allusions to support his innumerable themes in the novel.
I found the book to be a thought provoking and fascinating narrative, that was easy to get into. Author Beck's story of his spiritual journey made for worthy reading, especially, with his grounded, detailed recollections and comfortable writing style that flows fluently in an easy going conversational tone that invites you to read on. At times gritty, sometimes impassioned, and tangibly emotional this memoir of a young man looking to find his place in the world and finding it through the awakening of his faith and love for Jesus Christ was a worthwhile
...ome parts are questionable, the doors that were kicked wide open in peoples’ hearts are well worth the criticism that Young may be receiving. In fact, one of the collaborators of The Shack said, “We realize folks will disagree. We planned on it” (Jacobsen, “Is The Shack Heresy”). But the fact that they decided to push through the backlash and looked to Christ to be their leader, shows that this book was truly made for the glory of God, a feat that is quite admirable.
Taking this path that closes behind him represents Young Goodman’s decent into the unconscious and his loss of innocence. On this journey he soon meets a man who is a condensation of several different factors. The man represents the devil, as well as Brown unconscious
Early in the film , a psychologist is called in to treat the troubled child :and she calmed the mother with a statement to the effect that, “ These things come and go but they are unexplainable”. This juncture of the film is a starting point for one of the central themes of the film which is : how a fragile family unit is besieged by unusual forces both natural and supernatural which breaks and possesses and unites with the morally challenged father while the mother and the child through their innocence, love, and honesty triumph over these forces.
Walker goes a step further, however, by using hooking cows and hangdog looks to reinforce the major themes of her story”(Christian 185). Walker is a writer who can not only touch African Americans with her writing, but also those who have never knew what it meant to live and grow up in those type of conditions. Walker in her writing showed what be enslaved meant; she wrote from the angle of trying to entail the love overpowered whatever position they were in.
The story symbolizes character’s in different way that can be interpreted to analyze. Harry Ashfield, a 5 year old kid, dies in a tragic way where his belief and faith lead him to what seemed a pointless death. His literally taking of Bevel Summers words lead him to God, where he wanted to be after living a life so empty and concerning The story represents actions and events that help us visualize what each character symbolizes, to conclude to a characters faith, belief, and weakness/strengths. Flannery O Connor helps us to connect with the story and possibly think about how are religion or beliefs affected us towards conflicts. Having personal connection is our main focus and the characters in the story may represent us or something in our lives.
Hundred Years of Solitude and relate it to the Bible. Many scenarios in the novel
Slavery, the “Peculiar Institution” of the South, caused suffering among an innumerable number of human beings. Some people could argue that the life of a domestic animal would be better than being a slave; at least animals are incapable of feeling emotions. Suffering countless atrocities, including sexual assault, beatings, and murders, these slaves endured much more than we would think is humanly possible today. Yet, white southern “Christians” committed these atrocities, believing their behaviors were neither wrong nor immoral. Looking back at these atrocities, those who call themselves Christians are appalled. In Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself, Harriet A. Jacobs describes the hypocrisy of Southern, Christian slave owners in order to show that slavery and Christianity are not congruent.
The theme that Leif Enger wanted the readers to take away after reading this novel is that we should have faith in God. Through the extraordinary situations described in the book, we can learn that God is always there in our lives to pave a path for us, we need to have confidence in God to see him in our everyday life, and that we can see God through miracles and other events that happen in our life. Even when you are going through really bad moments always remember that there is a reason for that and there will always be good moments afterwards. This is as true as telling someone that tomorrow the sun will rise again. No matter what you are living at this moment if you have faith you will find a solution.
Late one night he finds himself in the middle of the woods with the Devil, on his way to a meeting of the Devil's followers. After seeing respected townsfolk at the Devil's meeting, including his minister and his wife, Faith, he loses hope in humanity and all that he had known to be true or real. Goodman Brown wakes up in his bed immediately following the Devil's meeting and wonders if what had happened was reality or simply just a dream. Despite his confusion about the events that took place, he was unable to forget what had happened and lost faith in religion and his com... ...