Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

Average Customer Rating:

Negative reviewers make Manning's point.

Customer Rating:

I read Ragamuffin Gospel and was inspired. I read the negative reviews and was amazed. Have people forgotten that the first commandment is to love God. We really, in our present human condition, find it difficult to cultivate love for someone who has little love for us. Manning's message is that God loves you in your broken condition. If we take that to heart we can begin to love God the way we should. "Nobility abliges". Then we walk in willing obedience to the Word of God. Sounds simple because it is. I was raised in legalism and know how it functions. The negative reviewers are so steeped in it that they can't see the forest for the trees. Legalism always functions through or by fear. I detect fear in their reviews. Afraid of what the message of unconditional love will do if people embrace it. God takes the chance but they can't. He is the One Who is vulnerable, not them. Read the book, embrace it, live in the knowledge that you are loved extravagantly and wrecklessly. Then and only then can we really live as New Testament Christians, not sour critics of beauty.

A kiss of grace

Customer Rating:

I have just finished rereading Brennan Mannings book The Ragamuffin Gospel. I first read this book about five years ago, when I first accepted Christ and began my tenure at S.F.A. I didn't realize how much of this book shaped my spiritual formation. After growing up in a very legalistic, works based church the simple yet profound message of grace rattles my core. Throughout the book Manning shakes you with gentle words and gripping stories out of your legalistic mindset. Rich Mullins, who gives a testimony at the beginning of the book puts it this way: "It did what the gospel can't help but do: It broke the mere "moralistic religiosity" in my life and revived a deeper acceptance that had long ago withered in me." To begin the book, Manning says that the Church today, "accepts grace in theory, but denies it in practice." He then goes on to give example after example of ways in which grace has been shown to him and how he has attempted to show grace to others. For some reason, the numerous examples never detract from the read. Stories of the mentally handicapped Amish kid who kisses Manning on the lips to the crooked smile wife whose husband contorts his lips to kiss her capture the way in which we should see grace. It's hard for us to accept grace, show grace, whatever, that's not new, but The Ragamuffin Gospel certainly sheds fresh and timeless light on the subject, with practical ways to display grace to fellow ragamuffins. I not only recommend this book to everyone, but also encourage all fellow believers to read this book at least once in their lifetime. I consider it a classic.

A Must Read for Every True Christian

Customer Rating:

The sometimes subtle, sometimes bold message of this book is GRACE. The simple word we throw around with such ease and lack of thought or understanding. A word few of us truly grasp. This book reveals, explains, supports and exemplifies the Grace of our Mighty God and Savior Jesus Christ as no other I have read. If you have struggled with trying to live up to some sort of unattainable "righteous" Christian standard, if you have been on the receiving end of anything BUT grace from the Church, this book will be a healing balm to your spiritual wounds and it will enable you to learn to walk in true grace instead of white-knuckling it with a Christian facade. Get it. Read it. Soak it up. You will be so glad you did!

A Word of Grace for Church Folks

Customer Rating:

I have been a fan of Rich Mullins, the Christian singer and songwriter, for a long time. I only discovered later that Mullins named his Ragamuffin Band in honor of Brennan Manning's book. After reading the book (including a testimony by Rich Mullins) I realize that the author and the musician are kindred spirits. In an afterword, Brennan Manning claims that his book has led to his criticism. His detractors have clucked that Manning is "a heretic, schismatic, universalist, and cockeyed optimist." Frankly, he has committed only one sin which has been the proclamation of the grace of God in Jesus Christ. One critic claims that he has "out-Luthered Luther." In a world of Christian books which promote spiritual laws, principles, and action plans, a book on God's grace is extremely refreshing. We are saved by God's grace alone. Accepting that grace leads to lives of gratitude and humility. The enemy of grace is the self-satisfied. These folks can be satisfied with their own righteousness or even their own sin. Relying on the love found in Jesus Christ leads to lives of gratitude and humility. When we reject the nominal for the deeper, we begin to follow God's calling in our lives. Although Manning has disagreements with the Roman Catholic church (he is a former priest), he is greatly influenced by its history and teaching. He also is influenced by the twelve step program of Alcoholics Anonymous. The book is filled with great illustrations from church history, literature, and his personal experiences. The appeal he makes to his readers is passionate. He makes strides to show the goodness of the gospel. He plays especially on the emotions of the reader. He also intends the book to be read devotionally. One of the last chapters actually has prayer exercises for the reader. I loved the book. Of course, I am not a hostile audience. I know that my life depends on the manna of God's grace. To the person just beginning in faith, I don't know if I would recommend this book. Manning understands himself simply as a redeemed sinner, but many ragamuffins that I know would still feel out of place here. They would probably long for the earthiness and colorful language of Anne Lamott. Whether intentional or not, Manning's audience appears to be church folks who finally get it. They realize that they are really ragamuffins in the hands of a merciful God. Finally, the book is a bit dated. Some of the illustrations which were current in the 1980s when the book was written don't read well in 2008. Nonetheless, I heartily recommend this book.

An Excellent Read

Customer Rating:

Brennan Manning discusses the love of God in a very personal way. The key word here is "personal." He does not spend time analyzing the original terms or the background of passages referring to the love of God. Instead, he works to help the reader understand the love of God in a sense that is meaningful. Not to discount the value of a good word study, but if I were to sit and explain to my son that I love him because of physiological happenings in my brain that make me experience a euphoria that in turn compels me to treat him with care, that would mean absolutely nothing to him. On the other hand, if I were to show him regularly that I love him simply because he is my son, that would mean a great deal more. God has done this in the giving of His Son and in blessing us continually. Manning shows why we should live our lives in the fact that the Gospel is about love. Jesus preached it, and the apostles after him preached it. Too often we try to start a Christian life with work. This can be destructive if one does not fully realize, as much as is humanly possible, the scope of God's love for us. Someone can start their walk with Christ not understanding this and slowly fall away. If one serves God out of a sense of obligation rather than out of a sense of joy, the fire that was once bright may fade away. Manning admits that some might consider his book one-sided. "Brennan goes on and on about Abba, Jesus, radical grace, compassion, and the furious love of God, but says little about morality." I got a sense of this, but as I read I realized that writing in this fashion was needed to help the reader fully comprehend the depth of God's love. The book had a profound affect on me, and I think this affect would have been lessened had he qualified everything with phrases like, "You've got to work hard. God wants you to be totally obedient." One of Manning's major positions is that God loves us no matter what we do, and in order to help us see that, Manning need not dwell on the fact that we must be obedient. Everyone knows this; even the unfaithful. What some don't realize, even faithful Christians, is that God loves us unconditionally. We may not believe we think this way, but our behavior says differently sometimes. We often work our fingers to the bone hoping to win God's favor more and more. Manning illustrates how this cannot be done. He refers to the story of the prodigal son and how the father did not say, "You better get to work if I'm going to forgive you." As Jesus was illustrating, our relationship with God is the same in that He is always ready to forgive us no matter what. Obedience is necessary and Manning does not disregard this fact. He simply works to help the reader see that God already loves us and by serving Him from that vantage point, our Christian lives can be filled with the joy our Father originally intended.