According to Merriam-Webster an epigraph is “a quotation set at the beginning of a literary work or one of its divisions to suggest its theme.” If William P. Young felt it necessary to use these quotes at the beginning of the chapters, it suggests that he has read a reasonable amount of the author’s work and consequently knowing a little about the source of the epigraphs will improve the reader’s understanding of Young’s book The Shack.
Chapter 6 – A Piece of π
“…no matter what God’s power may be, the first aspect of God is never that of absolute Master, the Almighty. It is that of a God who puts himself on our human level and limits himself.” Jacques Ellul, Anarchy and Christianity.
Jacques Ellul was a French philosopher and teacher. He was a Christian anarchist and believed that Christians and anarchists were trying to achieve the same goal.
He was born of French Reformed parents and so his religious upbringing should have placed him in the category of John Calvin and Ulrich Zwingli. However, he rejected their movement. For a while he strongly promoted the Ecumenical movement. However, he became frustrated with their active promotion of the Left. He left them and declared a defiantly anti-political stance.
In his book What I Believe, he declared a universalistic viewpoint when he writes, “that all people from the beginning of time are saved by God in Jesus Christ, that they have all been recipients of His grace no matter what they have done."
Chapter 7 – God on the Dock
“Let’s pray that the human race never escapes Earth to spread its iniquity elsewhere.” C.S. Lewis
C.S. Lewis was an Oxford professor, Christian apologist, and famous author. While Lewis’s most popular work is The Chronicles of Narnia, his most important Christian writing may be Mere Christianity in which he tries to promote the unified creeds of Christianity from a non-denominational position. While tending towards an ecumenical stance, Lewis was quite conservative.
Chapter 8 – A Breakfast of Champions
“Growth means change and change involves risk, stepping from the known into the unknown.” Author Unknown
Chapter 9 – A Long Time Ago, In a Garden Far, Far Away
“Even should we find another Eden, we would not be fit to enjoy it perfectly or stay in it forever.” Henry Van Dyke
Henry Van Dyke was a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary. He was known as a lecturer, teacher, and a poet. During his life, he was appointed Minister to the Netherlands by Woodrow Wilson and he was the chairman for the committee that wrote The Book of Common Worship 1906.
Chapter 10 – Wade in the Water
“New world—big horizon / Open your eyes and see it’s true / New world—across the frightening Waves of blue.” David Wilcox
David Wilcox is an American folksinger and songwriter. The quote used in The Shack is from his album Big Horizon from his song New World. The open stanza’s of the song read “I wrap around you skin to skin / We sleep inside this curl / And after how alone we've been / It's like a whole new world // My heart had felt like years at sea / Freezing and afraid / Breathe the life back into me / Kiss me warm that way.”
On Wilcox’s website Elizabeth Lesser writes, “The dictionary describes Shamans as "intermediaries between the human and spirit worlds. They can treat illness and are capable of entering supernatural realms to provide answers for humans. Shamans perform a variety of functions depending upon their respective cultures: healing; preserving the tradition by storytelling and songs; fortune-telling; and acting as a guide of souls in this life and the hereafter."
Read more about William P. Young and his book The Shack at Suite101.
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