Peter Kreeft, in his book, Making Sense Out Of Suffering, wrote that God is to us something like we are to a dog. It is this analogy of these two relationships between God and mankind and mankind and dog which is the very basis of The Parable of White Fang. It is based on the classic Jack London novel White Fang, the story of a wolf/wild dog named White Fang, born and raised in the Yukon wild. He was initially captured and tamed by his first owner with his next owner unfortunately abusing and maltreating him. The story then takes us on the long and difficult process of White Fang being gradually re-tamed and eventually domesticated by a new, extremely patient, and very loving owner.
In this book we look at the relationship between God and man with some insights learned from the above story’s relationship between man and dog. It attempts to see our faith from a different perspective; it is not meant to be a dry doctrinal text but instead considers thought-provoking and even imaginative aspects of our faith within the story. It covers multiple challenging topics and attempts to look at them from this different vantage point. Some of the many topics contemplated include: the ancient covenant, the new covenant, the awe of God, suffering and abuse, the reality of evil, the reality of love, laws of obedience, expiation, redemption and salvation, heaven, temptation and the spiritual battle, the dark night of the soul, learned restraint, examination of conscience, role of conscience, stain of sin, confession/reconciliation, imperfect versus perfect contrition, holy leisure, expression not repression and the process of taming versus the process of growing in holiness. Other topics include the nature of God, the nature of man and the nature of animal. And yes, all of this involving a wild wolf dog!
In the end, this book tells a story of love. A deep, enduring, life changing, other centered, compassionate, mutually joyful and triumphant love. This love involves not only man and dog but also God and man. Please enjoy the imagery!
