William P. Young's top-selling The Shack is back on the shelves in LifeWay Christian Stores after being temporarily pulled for a review of the controversial novel.

The Southern Baptist chain was among the first major retail groups to carry the Windblown Media title, which has seen word-of-mouth recommendations push the book to more than a million in sales and 2 million in print in just over a year. But concerns about some of the ways God is portrayed in the book grew as its popularity increased, with some critics calling it heretical.

Though LifeWay stores had carried the book for four or five months with little negative reaction from customers, as debate increased the chain felt it was time to take another look, President Mark Scott told Christian Retailing at the International Christian Retail Show yesterday.

Copies of the novel were removed from LifeWay stores for 10 days or so last month while an informal panel reviewed it. Leaders then came to a decision that "as we have carried C.S. Lewis' fiction, that The Shack had a strong enough message that it was worthy to be carried," Scott said.

The book went back on sale, but with a P.O.P. notice about it and a one-page review made available to customers that summarized differing opinions on the book and reminded readers that it was a work of fiction.

"Fiction readers for the most part haven't had a problem with The Shack, but there are also people who are reading books primarily for their doctrine and theology," Scott said. "It's not a doctrinal book, and we encourage people to read it in the way that was intended." The review process was "a good way for us to try to be faithful to who we are and maintain the trust of our customers," he added.

Young was due to be the featured speaker at this morning's CBA Members Breakfast.