Interview: William “Paul” Young, Author of The Shack
For the final episode of our podcast in 2008, I wanted to share with you this interview that I conducted along with my good friend Michael Q. Pink a couple of months ago.
Listen to this Episode
William Paul Young
Regardless of whether or not you’ve read the runaway bestseller, The Shack, you’ll want to hear what author Paul Young has to say as he tells the story behind the writing of the book. I will warn you that some material may not be appropriate for younger children, as Paul shares his own personal story in a brutally honest and open way.
If you haven’t yet picked up your copy of The Shack, go grab it from your local Christian bookstore, Amazon.com, or any major book retailer right away.
If you prefer to grab the audio, download it from EStudySource today.
Yet another reminder that I need to subscribe to your podcast as soon as I get home! (Must… remember… to subscribe on home computer…)
I could always spam you relentlessly…
[...] does not have to read for very long online about William P. Young to find that these issues are ones that he has struggled with personally, [...]
[...] does not have to read for very long online about William P. Young to find that these issues are ones that he has struggled with personally, [...]
Dear Sir, April 9…today I listened to the PodCast. Thank you for your honesty, insight, encouragement. I just want to say that one year ago I gave THE SHACK BOOK to husband, Barry to read. He came to me 1/2 of the way through, saying, Bonnie, this book was written for me. He subsequently bought 80 books at the Bookstore, and gave them out for the next several months to ones he felt directed to. Today, he is GONE, and shacking completely with JESUS, at HIS feet, before the THRONE of GOD. This one book graced the last year of his life, and thru GOD’S GREAT GRACIOUSNESS, my husband’s (46 years) is living on. Everything we do each and every moment of our brief lives is share the LOVE and GRACE of the triune GOD. I am deeply grieving, but I KNOW where he is; THE SHACK is helping me to visualize that awesome place prepared for us all.
Bless YOU,
Bonnie Walker
I am only half way or a little more through this fantastic book, and I felt compelled to write on this wall regarding this story. I had heard quite a bit about this book before I managed to get hold of it, (every where I tried was sold out) and wasn’t really sure what it was about to be honest, so it was intrigue more than anything else that made me buy it. I truly can see why people are saying it has changed their lives changed the way they think etc….today I watched three interviews on You Tube. I was directed to them, as I was looking up the author on Google. Two of them were preachers of some kind dissing this book, telling their followers that this book is bad, telling them not to buy it under any circumstances. Then I watched an interview with the author, and against any will and of my own vollition I began to cry. No apparant reason at all. I felt curious and wondered to myself if those preachers with all of their following, aren’t just a little bit afraid that some of those good people of theirs may start to form their own opinions about who they think God is.
I mean….who says that God can’t appear to someone as a fat American black lady, or that The Holy Spirit cannot be a small Asian lady and that Jesus could not be a Jewish handyman. They teach us that we should never just walk past and ignore a tramp for instance, because it could well be the Lord, or the bible says that we should never turn away strangers from our door, because they could have entertained angels unbeknown, so what are we to believe? I think that if we believe in love then we are on the right track, if we try and lead our lives in a good and kind way, with thought for our neighbours, family, strangers….then we are on the right track. After all, what harm can it do to question ourselves or what God wants from us, whoever he/she is dressed up like. William Paul Young has caused a storm because he has, for the first time in a long time, got people thinking for themselves, asking the deep and unfathomable questions that lay in the deepest part of us, who is God? Does God exist? Yes. I think he does, I think he may be that fat black woman that likes to cook!!!!
I downloaded this for my husband yesterday, and we listened today. He cried through much of it. He read The Shack in January, and pretty much uses it as a daily devotional now. I was blown away that it took me 12 years to go through my own shack, and how much our spiritual journeys are similar, althought the circumstances were different. That, of course, is a familiar thing to you.
We left the IC in 1989 and held church in our home with three other families for 11 years. We tried going back in for a time, but it just was never going to work. I simply haven’t been able to live a performance-based Christianity since 1985, and for all that I tried to spread the word that it is relationship and not religion (something we Jesus People understaood in 1972 but had it hammered out of us in the IC and Bible college. Ugh.), I’m so very grateful to have a book to give people who really yearn for so much more than we were told we could have. Thank you for being who you are in Christ and letting others know that they have His permission to be so.
Just want to drop a quick “thank you” to Bonnie, Susan & Carolyn for sharing here. It is long overdue. I truly appreciate you taking the time to let us know how The Shack has impacted you. I’m grateful to have heard from you and to have had the opportunity to share this interview with you.
Blessings!
David G. Johnson
i saw u on faith life now ! i have listened to gary’s financial revolution tapes 10 times and have implemented what i have faith for. yet still i have questions, i am trapped in slavery to this worlds system, my calling is probably ministry related and i don’t know how to get from here to there ! my dad died when i was in the 8th grade so i learned how to do everything imaginable. now i am 50 yrs old,been in a serious relationship with God for 20 years and yet last nite i asked God how do i have intimacy with you? please email me in private if u would. oh and by the way i just received my copy of the shack that i ordered May God bless all of u
I want to thank you for your interview with Paul Young. I’m reading “The Shack” and am halfway through it. A very interesting read! I’m an Inter-faith pastoral counselor in Seoul and am grateful for a book of faith that is grounded in the pain and honesty of human life. Thanks Paul for being open and vulnerable. Bless you!
Yvon