[.ca] The Ragamuffin Gospel Visual Edition: Good News for the ... (ISBN 1590525124)

From Amazon.com:
Brennan Manning wrote The Ragamuffin Gospel "for the bedraggled, beat-up, and burnt-out," the marginalized folks to whom Jesus ministered: the children, the ill, the tax collectors, the women. In other words, the ragamuffins. Manning understands better than most that behind our facades of order and self-assurance are inadequacies that can find healing only in Jesus. While the powerful and religious elite challenged him, Jesus embraced and healed and fed the needs of the ragamuffins. Jesus delivered love, healing, and, most of all, grace. Grace is defined as "the freely given and unmerited favor and love of God." But, as Manning points out, we have "twisted the gospel of grace into religious bondage and distorted the image of God into an eternal, small-minded bookkeeper." In reality, God offers us grace immeasurable. Brennan Manning gently encourages us to embrace that grace in the face of our greatest needs. And Manning certainly knows whereof he speaks, having taken a journey from priesthood and academic achievement through a collapse into alcoholism. Manning came face to face with his need, finally abandoning himself to grace. And he invites us now to join him in a life of grace. Manning is without doubt one of the most eloquent writers on the subject of grace because he openly shares his own pain and struggle to help readers deal with failure and inadequacy. And he sweetly challenges them to do the same. --Patricia Klein

Redeemed by God's Grace Alone:
The Ragamuffin Gospel is the first Christian book to hit right where my heart needed it... For the majority of my life, I considered myself right in God's Grace without overwhelming shortcomings. Never truly facing unbearable challenges, I could not relate to those who had found God in the depths of despair. Well, that quickly changed when I graduated from college and entered the professional world. I faced challenges in both my job and personal life that threw me into a tailspin, and I felt distanced from God. I felt guilty, overburdened by my own "failings," and consumed by darkness. Wherever I found legalism, it was no longer a camp to join (because I was so "righteous") but what reeked of ignorance about God's Grace. Then a friend recommended this book. I read it with intent and realized, for the first time in three years, that the God I accepted as a child is the God who loves me no matter how far I fall. No, this is not an excuse to keep sinning. Yes, this is an invitation back to the Lord, who loves so unconditionally that we, finite humans, cannot fully grasp it until we reach Glory. As Brennan Manning's book helped lift me from the "ashes," I realize there are others who "beat themselves up" and feel that God is so displeased that His love cannot reach them. Not so with our Glorious Lord. He loves you with NO END! That, my friends, makes me want to fall down at His knees. His love does not waiver with my rights and wrongs; He invites me to His love and grace without reservation. >>Lord, I come back to you, running and with open arms.<< Thank you, Brennan Manning. There is NOTHING I can do to "earn" God's favor. He is smiling because I sense His love, once again. He was always there, even when I didn't feel like He was there. P.S. For all those who over-emphasize a person's "fruit" without the Glorious context of God's Grace, please do consider "walking two moons" in that person's mocassins. Only God knows our hearts, through and through. I'm blessed because He does. There's nothing He doesn't know, yet He loves me unconditionally, forever and ever.

Not a ragamuffin fan...sorry:
I had a good friend give me this book for Christmas, so I decided to read it based on his recommendation. Unfortunately, I'm going to go against the flow and say that I'm missing what many--including Rich Mullins, Michael Card, and others--are raving about. First, I'm a little taken aback by the "Ragamuffin" label. The gospel is not for "ragamuffins" but for sinners who have desperately missed the mark. I know Manning probably didn't mean it, but it feels like there is a minimization of the idea that we are lost and cannot find the way on our own. Ragamuffin seems so watered down; the real impact seems to have been lost. I also disagree with some things said by Manning. For instance, on page 31 he tells the story of how the public sinner "was excommunicated and forbidden entry to the church. He took his woes to God. 'They won't let me in Lord because I am a sinner.' What are you complaining about?' God said. 'They won't let me in either.'" Don't get me wrong, it's a cute story, but I'm not sure how biblical this idea is. I do not see the idea of repentance in this man's attitude. It's almost as if a relationship with God that is blessed by the church is somehow a God-given right despite one's courting of sin. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5 to expel the brother who was willfully sinning. I don't see any cute games that Paul (or Jesus, for that matter) played. I am not saying that sinners should refrain from going to church. Obviously, we are all sinners! The key is, do we recognize this and thus move forward in a repentant attitude? He alludes to this idea on page 103, which is a good thing. Although I might be accused of reading Manning out of context, this section irrituated me. Manning's Arminianism shines throughout the book, with some mistaken idea that somehow all people were meant to be saved (see page 43). He says on page 46 "there is no one to whom God denies it." The question is, what is "it"? It appears it's grace. Is Manning a Universalist, somehow thinking that all people go to heaven based on a misunderstanding of 1 Timothy 2:4? His lack of clarity makes it hard to understand what exactly his point really is. Also, please don't accuse me of antinomianism, but I don't believe the author properly stresses the importance of good works. Now, I work with a countercult ministry, so I understand the possibility of misunderstanding grace and thining we are saved by works. At the same time, the Bible is very clear that good works are vital in the Sanctification process. We are saved by grace unto good works (Ephesians 2:10; James 2:14-26). The Christian church today really seems to miss this message, and unfortunately, the emphasis of too much grace is equally as deterimental as the cults' emphasis of too much works. I'm going to say that I don't believe the balance is evident throughout this work. Overall, I do not recommend this book. If there is one other book that I would recommend in its place, throughout my reading of The Ragamuffin Gospel, I kept thinking of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's The Cost of Discipleship. And I'll leave it at that.

Great content, gorgeous images:
I was impressed by the powerful images that the publisher has paired with the powerful words of Brennan Manning. I don't know that anyone else has been able to communicate the incredible love & grace of God better than Brennan Manning - and this is a good extension of that message. Well worth getting especially as a gift to someone wrestling with the love & grace of God for 'ragamuffins'.

Read this review:
Dear readers, I was browing the web looking for a page of brenning manning and his works, so I came to amazon hoping to find a link. I started reading the reviews and most agreed with me that this is a great book. But I am going to say it is only a book. Manning is not presenting any deep theological message. He is not explaining away the worlds problems. He doesn't suggest that he knows all there is to know about God. What he does is present the gospel to those who need to hear it. He is real because he has been there. I myself do not claim to know much. I would not be able to argue with you about the ins and outs of modern christianity. I do not know debates or answers to a lot of questions. But what I do know is the love of God. Mannings book, if you read it just for the knowledge in the book, you will probably miss it. You must be in the shoes of Manning. You have to had been at the bottom, not just a one who doesn't know Christ, but one who has. We are ragamuffins. I know that is made clear in the bible. But grace is so amazing because while we were still these ragamuffins Christ died for us. You could argue all day about who Christ died for and how I don't know anything, but all I need to know is the love of God. Why do I write this review? Honestly I do not remember everything that was said in Mannings book. But God was convincing me of his love for me at the same time I picked up this book. It was a source of encouragement to know that i was not the only one who felt this way. I ask you just to be real with yourself and God and allow him to convince you of his love. Not from a book or a sermon or anything else. I promise if you seek for that you will find it. Thank you.

Approach with caution, but let into your heart:
Although one must have a strong base in the Word to read this book, understanding that we are called to be born again or "new creatures" through putting faith in Christ and an understanding of our sinful nature and a repentant heart, this book speaks to the core of our being. It was so hard for me to let the words Brennan spoke penetrate my heart; I felt like I was reading something heretical, but Manning backs up what he says with Scripture. Truth rings deeply throughout this book. Without chapters such as the one containing a powerful story about an Alcoholic Anonymous meeting where a man's fellow drunks force him to remember the sins his alcoholism had done and face the truth about himself, I would have been disappointed. I would have because, as other reviews have mentioned, we cannot simply go about life as people constantly thinking, "I can do whatever I want because God doesn't love me based on what I do," but we must be moved by His grace and recognition of our calling to be "born again" to enter the kingdom of Heaven and to therefore live a life based on our belief that we ARE, in fact, new creatures no longer enslaved to sin. I believe that Brennan believes this as well, but wanted to speak to the Pharisaical Christians of our day. He comes to the point of almost contradicting himself by the way he critically describes them, but does not if one reads carefully, trying to understand his thoughts. He mentions that if we think that we have not been that "holier than thou" person, that we are not seeing the truth about ourselves, and gives vivid depictions of his own experiences in this. I would recommend this book to anyone willing to read it in Spirit and Truth and see what Manning's purpose is: to show us that nothing can separate us from the love of God (in Christ, of course) and that it is God who will extend to us the grace of belief in Him. I love this book. Shortly after reading it, in fact, I went to my sister's wedding and was surrounded by my non-Christian family and friends--'ragamuffins' in need of a Savior. After the wedding, my sister commented with great enthusiasm how 'loving' and kind I was, and in what she spoke I sensed almost a disbelief that anyone could love like that. She said I was different from anyone there. I think that what God spoke to my heart through Manning's book is what was responsible. I know that my focus was, if only for a moment, taken off of myself and put on the ones I love and was able to love by the grace of God. Thank you, Brennan, for your wise words of truth.