If you are a fan of allegory in the tradition of “A Pilgrim’s Progress” or, indeed, the parables of Jesus, then you will find Randy Alcorn’s “Chasm” to be a wonderful read. “Chasm” is the life-story of Nick Seagrave—his rebellion from God, search for meaning, false paths and wrong turns on his spiritual quest, and ultimate salvation through Jesus told as a tale with symbolic elements and figurative language. In this allegory the choices that we make in life and the values we embrace are depicted by pathways in a bleak land. All the pathways are grey except for one: the red path. All the paths ultimately lead to death in an impassable chasm except for the red one. The chasm is the gulf that separates all people from the beautiful city of Charis (heaven) and thus represents the gulf which separates us from God with only the path of Jesus leading to salvation. The story begins with Nick standing at the chasm, wondering how he can cross it since it is far too wide and deep to get across on his own. Then there is a flashback to explain how he got to the chasm through bad choices, sins, and deception from Joshua (the devil). Finally, he agrees to follow a mentor who is on the red path and meets the Woodsman (Jesus) who sacrificially provides the one and only way across the chasm and towards the heavenly city.
This is a beautiful allegory which thoroughly explains the problem we all have—separation from God as a result of our sins—and the only way that we can be reconciled through the sacrifice of Jesus. The book is well-written and theologically sound; even though it as the feel of a fairy tale (as do most allegories), this is not a shallow look at the Christian faith but rather a very complete explanation of the Gospel: the bad news and the good. It’s important in an allegory to be able to understand what the elements represent. I had no trouble whatsoever understanding what the elements of the allegory stood for and I doubt that any Christian would. However, someone who is not familiar with the Gospel or with elementary Christian theology would need some things explained, which would make this an excellent book for a book study with new believers or non-believers. I’m not sure I would recommend just giving this to a non-believer, but would highly recommend going over the book with them or having them read it and then explaining what each part represented. There is a good study note section in the back which would facilitate this excellently. Apparently the novel “Edge of Eternity” tells the story of Nick Seagrave in novel form, but I’ve not read that novel and this allegory stands well on it’s own; you will not need to read the novel to make sense of this allegory (though I am now compelled to seek out the novel and read it). I read all 110 pages of this book in just a few hours and I am a slow reader, which speaks volumes of how fast-flowing and interesting it was. Randy Alcorn is a very well-respected and gifted Christian writers and one of the most popular authors out there now and this allegory is yet another reason why he has this sterling reputation. The only real negative criticism I might have is that this book has some elements that might not be suitable for children, but that makes the book all the more useful for adult readers since it shows a very honest look at our sinful proclivities. Also, I was not very impressed by the illustrations: they seemed amateurish; more like something you would find in a cartoon drawn by a teenager, but they do not detract from the book. I was given this book by the publisher, WaterbrookMultnomah as part of their Blogging for Books program, but the opinions here are mine and I am free to provide both positive and negative reviews.
