Laura posted some of her thoughts regarding the book on Facebook and I posted the following comment.
… I JUST finished listening to the unabridged audio book of this today on the treadmill.
I didn’t have a problem with the personification of God as a woman because it was in a fictional setting. BUT, wisdom is personified as a woman in Proverbs and when I was a young Christian I thought that was very cool.
Granted, Andy Comiskey’s talk about true femininity and masculinity was very insightful to me on the importance of finding both in the Creator’s Being but He is called Father for very important reasons.
I cried twice during the two weeks audio listening thing. Embarrassing to do on the treadmill :). Some of the mystical experiences freaked me out because of my own experience in prayer life. Even so, there were times it seemed SO completely preachy :). It might have been the guy reading the book to me but … I was like… come on already.
Anyway, I echo your warnings for people to be very careful. I am concerned about the theology behind how he dealt with the Trinity. BUT, when it comes to recovery and healing … *very* good stuff.
And that is basically how I feel. All the major, and it was major, theology discussions sounded a bit preachy at times and something made me nervous about them. I am not a theologian or the son of one so I won’t even try to pick it apart piece by piece but … there were a handful of times I thought, “well, I never heard that in the Bible.”
The other two things that come to mind right now is that God was seriously feminized in the story. Again, not a big deal to me but it was a little overboard in that His true masculinity was not emphasized much at all. The feminine was explored to the nth degree and the masculine was kind of a stoic tenderness. I am not sure the portrayal is completely fitting with the true Creator’s character (remember this is a work of fiction.) I also picked up on a STRONG anti-hierarchal view of leadership and that God’s intent was for it to always be out of selfless consensus. I believe the Bible clearly demonstrates the need for both in different situations. The one twist of “nuance” I would add is that the hierarchal structures today aren’t known for selflessness and that should change.
Well, I guess I did go for a bit of theology. 
On the recovery end …
I thought the parts of the story regarding healing, recovery, talking straightforward, sometimes tender, sometimes forthright and honestly with God was amazing. It was beautiful and that DID portray the God I know to be Healer and highly relational very very well. That’s why it brought me to tears a couple of times. Reminders of very spiritually intimate moments in my own journey were echoed in those elements of the story.
So, it was kind of like reading two different stories. One on a mission to deconstruct an obvious problem for the author … the institutionalized church. The other was about tragedy and recovery from that tragedy. Wary and a little bit of understanding for the first element but loved the second.
I think mature Christians should read it and then take a look at what other Christians are saying. I only read it because of the Body of Christ buzzing about it. The reactions run the spectrum and I haven’t walked away from a single perspective not having learned something (on this one.)
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