Re-Visiting The Shack (2): Forward to Ch.4
Mackenzie Allen Phillips (protagonist of The Shack ) seems a pretty ordinary sort of guy, according to his best friend and ghost-writer, Willie. A bit reserved, enough to hide his intelligence from the casual acquaintance, Mack is a good man. A respectable man. Yet also a man hurt and haunted by his past. A violent alcoholic father had driven Mack from home at age thirteen, but not before the young boy had spiked all the liquor in the home with insect poison. And he carries the guilt of that act with him. Mack, according to Willie, shares our culture’s view of Goddddd to some degree. “. . . he suspects (God) is brooding, distant, and aloof” (10). He has a love-hate relationship with him (10). Mack’s wife, Nan, addresses God as “Papa.” This is too familiar for Mack who calls God “God” and shies away from interacting with him, preferring just to affirm that God knows what he is doing and doesn’t need our worrying or nagging (2...