The Shack: God is a Black Woman

William P. Young, author of the bestselling novel The Shack, and I have a bone to pick; he stole my idea. Since I started teaching in Memphis, and interacting with black people in a way I never have in my life, my mental picture of God has become a black woman. To be perfectly specific, I think of Tyler Perry's Madea character in Diary of a Mad Black Woman.

Why do I think God is well represented by the black woman? For one, I agree with Young's idea that God is too often visualized like a Gandalf character with proverbial stoicism. Shouldn't God have some dignity? To me, Gandalf the grey has very little dignity; he has lots of class but little dignity. However, a black woman, who is too often socially, intellectually, and dispensationally under represented, can truly hold herself with dignity in a way that no Lord of the Rings character ever could. Only a true underdog can hold their head up with stateliness because they know the bottom, and still walk tall.

I will support my idea that the black woman is the metaphorical beacon of dignity with something I've seen play out again and again in my school. Working in a low income community, the stereotype is that parents don't give a damn about their childs education. Most people I talk to think poverty equates to lack of involvment in school. My experience has been just the opposite. My school is primaly African American, and as far as I can tell most of my students are raised by their Mom's. If a kid is cutting up in class, I call home and talk to Mom, and rarely will I have a problem with that child again. Mom takes care of her child. Sometimes I am scared to these kids home because I fear for them; believe me when I say hell hath no fury. Yet, the fury comes with genuine concern for the child. These black women I know often work several low paying jobs just to make ends meet. They have a deep understanding of depravity, but maintain their cool through it all.

This is why I agree with W.P. Young, God is a black woman.