The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Ragamuffin Gospel
Book Review: I'm sorry . . .
Summary: 1 Stars
. . . but I am unable to give a positive response to this book in any way. My wife picked up a copy on vacation, and asked me to read it and tell her what I thought.
I don't know Manning personally, and he may well be the greatest guy in the world . . . but I found this book to be arrogant and self-serving. It is certainly nice to know that Manning has got everything all figured out, and that so much of Christianity has gotten everything so wrong for so long . . . but he certainly didn't present his "discoveries" in such a way as to make me recommend it. I question his biblical scholarship; I question his knowledge of church history; and I certainly question his theological acumen. As a Catholic, indeed, as a convert, I also question his eagerness to embrace the Church teaching with which he agrees . . . but to reject outright the Church teaching with which he disagrees. I was not aware that he represented an infallible Magisterium!
All in all, not only was I not particularly impressed, I was turned off to the extent that I cannot in good conscience recommend this book to anyone.
Book Review: I'm thankful God loves Ragamuffins.
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a thought-provoking book, worth reading slowly. The message is pretty simple -- but not easy to internalize. I used the book as a daily spiritual meditation for a time. Then some friends and I reread it and met together weekly to discuss it.
There is much in common with Phil Yancey's "What's So Amazing About Grace?" It mixes stories from the author's experience with spiritual insight about God acting in human affairs. The main point is that Christians need to honestly consider God's love and grace and appreciate it for what it is. It is human nature to resist God's grace, to try and prove oneself really "good" and "spiritual", but this is foolishness. Instead, ragamuffins focus on God's grace and enjoy God.
If this were EASY to do, you could stop with this review. You wouldn't need Yancey or Manning to explain it again and again. But I find I really need people like Brennan Manning to lay it out for me....
The book has caused some controversy. Both Protestants and Catholics have claimed that it argues for "casual grace" or even that Manning is a universalist. Those charges are false (Manning deals with them in an appendix) but not everyone will agree with Manning's message.
The author, a former Catholic priest, an alcoholic, divorced -- has painfully proven himself a ragamuffin and God is still in love with him, so maybe God can work in you and me?
Enjoy the book.
Book Review: I've been on both sides of the fence, GRACE is the only way
Summary: 5 Stars
I grew up in an abusive, legalistic church, who stressed a life of utmost holiness as most pleasing to God, therefore my ultimate goal in my walk with Christ is to overcome sin. Unfortunately the more I try, the more I see my failures and my peace and joy in God fluctuates with my personal performance. The Ragamuffin Gospel seeks to destroy the worldview of God that Christendom has created: You are saved by immense and passionate grace and mercy, but once you accept it, God has a checklist of sanctification and service that you must repay. Why would a God of unsearchable riches suddenly do a 180 and expect us to deliver a checklist of personal effort? Our "spiritual leaders" reinforce these lists often comprised of: Do your daily devotions, or God won't speak to you / Pray longer and harder or God won't know your heart / Do more service for church, you're not doing enough for God, you're spending too much time on yourself / If you don't have it all together, God can't use you, etc. etc.
Brennan Manning vehemently believes that God absolutely hates sin (as the other reviewers here focus on as their primary view of God), BUT, God's grace and mercy abounds all the more. IT IS THIS UNFATHOMABLE AWE OF EXPERIENCING AND KNOWING JESUS' LOVE THAT INSPIRES AND STRENGTHENS US TO FLEE FROM SIN, NOT OUR OWN RESOLVE.
A MUST read for anyone who has been raised in the modern institutional church.
Book Review: Inspriational and Extraordinary book.
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is an exceptional read for anyone who wants to draw nearer to God. Although I have read some criticisms of The Ragamuffin Gospel that seem to insist Manning is not hard enough on sinners, perhaps Jesus was not hard enough on sinners, either.
I take back that perhaps.. I know Jesus was not hard enough on sinners. I think the message Manning is trying to get across is that we are all sinners. None of us, in all our self-righteous fury, can say that we walk even a day without sin. Yet God sent His son to die for us- not just die, but suffer agonizingly, brutally beaten, shamed, tortured, and mocked- for us.
As Manning poetically points out, Jesus was aware of our sinful natures, aware of our present sins and even our future sins, when he undertook this labor of love for us.
Matthew 9:9-13 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?"
On hearing this, Jesus said, It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. but go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.'* For I have not come to call the righteous, but the sinners."**
*Hosea 6:6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.
*Micah 6:8 He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
**Luke 19:10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.
**1 Timothy 1:15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners-of whom I am the worst.
I am a person who struggles daily that shame and guilt over my sins, negativity and unacceptance of self-righteous, holier-than-thou Christians, make stumbling on my walk with God easier. The Ragamuffin Gospel has drawn me nearer to God and to the realization that Jesus does offer forgiveness for even me.
Book Review: Intense Grace for the weak and weary
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is by far one of the best that I have read in regards to the teaching of the amazing Grace that God has given to us. Brannan Manning is funny, witty and direct. This book is filled with many stories to illustrate his points and is an enjoyment to read. I highly recommend this book to any Christian at any level in their relationship to Christ.