John Updike and The Shack

American author, John Updike, died this week. I am not familiar with much of his writing, but I came across this article that detailed his 6 rules/guidelines for critiquing a written work. This struck me as especially helpful in light of my recent debate over the book The Shack by William Young. In particular, Updike's first rule is:

"Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt."

We Christians cry foul when unbelievers indict the Bible for it's lack of advocacy for equality or its seeming condoning of slavery or women as second-class citizens. We may respond that the Bible was not written as a social manifesto, a "how-to" book for functional theocracies, or even primarily as a history book. It is, if you will, an autobiography written by God about the life of God in and during human history.

Updikes' first rule is very applicable here as well as with The Shack. For all the "poor theology" or "undiluted heresy" that may or may not be in there, it is clear that Young was not intending to write a systematic theology, but rather a personal testimony of God's grace and work in his spiritual journey for his childrens' benefit. The fact that others resonated with it and it has taken off as a NYT's best seller is rather peripheral. What was his intent and how well did he acheive it is the issue reviewers should start their assessmement with.

But additionally helpful, and necessary, is Updike's 5th rule:

"If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's ouevre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?"

If, as the critics say, Young wandered so far off course, is there another work they can recommend that addresses the real faith-shattering consequences of life's hard knocks, the inadequacies of the American church, and how a man who is supposed to have his theology all figured out gropes out of the darkness of grief, fear, shame and hurt into the light of forgiveness and reconciliation, both with his enemies and his God? Where is that book? Or is the failure really the critics' who just "don't get it", or just don't want to acknowledge that many people go through such valleys of doubt and darkness (which is why the book has been so contagious)?

Again, Young's book was a poignant expression of very real experiences, emotions, and faith struggles. How this one man worked through it all is brilliantly described in The Shack. It left me hungry for more intimacy with Christ and confronted with my own personal battles with forgiveness.

Just some helpful direction from John Updike worth considering.