The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, ... (ISBN 0880706317)

Amazon.com Review:
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

Sure to humble the most mature Christians...:
The Ragamuffin Gospel Brennan Manning ISBN: 9781590525029 Multnomah, 2008 Reviewed by Brent Lamar for ReviewYourBook.com, 12/08 5 stars Sure to humble the most mature Christians... Brennan Manning exposes the true gospel. Many churches are legalistic. Manning stresses the true message of our Lord; He loves the unlovable. If we were dependent on keeping the "rules" churches set before us, none of us would go to heaven. It is by grace and grace alone that we are saved. I recommend this book for mature Christians. Manning's words left me humbled. Grace has set us free.

Ragamuffin Gospel:
The book arrived in a timely fashion and was practically new. Very pleased with service

Negative reviewers make Manning's point.:
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:
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:
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!