Rating: 
Summary: Intense Grace for the weak and weary
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Experiencing God's Grace
Review: This is an enjoyable book, but the message of grace is hardly new. Unfortunately, it is new to many people who have not been well taught and/or have not read the scriptures themselves. Manning comes from a Catholic background, so grace was a bit of a surprise to him. Recall that Martin Luther broke off from the Catholic church about 500 years ago over this issue. What Manning does bring to us is the experience of God's grace. Manning was a down and out drunk when God touched him and cleaned him up. It is from this experience in his life that Manning appears to have truly begun to understand God's grace. This is not a book on theology proper, but on the individual's experience of God's love and grace to us. The style is often rambling, almost stream of consciousness at times, but readable. One of the things that kept me from giving this book a higher rating is that it was not written in such a way that most of God's ragamuffins could understand it. It uses many allusions and cultural references, and a lot of 50 cent words. I teach Bible studies to prisoners and I believe that most of them could not understand a lot of this book. However, they are the ragamuffins that God came to save (along with the rest of us). At times I wondered who Manning was writing the book for - the ragamuffins, or the intelligentsia. Still, for those who can get past that, it is a worthwhile book.
Rating:
Summary: The furious love of God - the Jesus who loves the bedraggled
Review: This book is simple yet will redefine and reignite the grace and mercy of God in Jesus Christ to everyone who reads it. Brennan has a great understanding of the grace of God through his own personal struggle that God brought him through and it is clear that he has experienced himself the intense love of God for the sinner. He explains who he wrote the book for - the struggles, the dirty children, the ones who have not been wanting to keep going at times - the tired and beaten. We've all been there - we've all been poor (unless we've been so proud as to not accept our poverty and dispair) and Brennan displays in this book the intense love that God has for us, avaible to us in Christ, when we struggle and are dirty kids before him. It has nothing to do with false or degrading humility but everything to do with accepting our frailty, depravited, sinfulness and struggling and realizing that we stand before a holy, mighty, loving God as struggling, dirty children. The amazing truth is that He knows this is how we are, He died for us while we were like this and He calls us to come to Him just as we are. This book presents the freedom of the gospel of Jesus Christ, renews why He died for us and the truth found if we accept and follow Christ, and the grace given to us through Jesus' cross. This is a must read and be ready for God to work in your heart and your mind to set you free to live captured by the furious love of God.
Rating:
Summary: Reminds you what got you this far in the first place...
Review: Brennan Manning, in an honest (yes, sometimes it even seems rough and abrasive) and authentic look at grace, writes one of the best interpretations of the Gospel of Jesus Christ I've read. He speaks of grace as a gift, yet doesn't shy away from what it costs. He speaks of following Christ wholeheartedly, yet not falling into a rut of legalism and religious rhetoric. He keeps us mindful of some of the tension in the Christian life (Jesus is the lion and the lamb, Christians must lose their lives to find life, the Cross was life, etc.), and reminds us that grace is not some wishy-washy concept that can be nailed down. Grace is complex. It is God's passionate pursuit of us until we literally "find" him. Not a good book (I don't think) for someone wanting to understand the basics of Christianity. Rather, Manning provides a fresh perspective for those who are weary in their faith journey, who need to see their faith, again, through the eyes of another.
Rating:
Summary: Few Books do I read more than once
Review: This is an excelent book. It is honest, humorous, radical truths from begining to end. I have read and reread this gem, highlighted sections, and given to friends. I feel the love and mercy of Abba, His Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit just glowing in me. My love is growing which is what I've been searching for all my life. "You must love your neighbors as you love yourself". I am going to be about Manning's writings as I was after reading Mother Teresa's "Simple Path". Sure to want to read more. Thank you Brennan Manning, from another Ragamuffin.
Rating: 
Summary: Negative Rhetoric.
Review: I do not understand why no one seems to notice the negative and destructive nature of such titles as "The Complete Idiot's Guide to . . ." The Ragamuffin Gospel did not strike me thus, until I started to read it. I am not a Christian, I am someone who is looking. A friend suggested this book. I started to read it, and found it very disturbing. Yes I get the basic point, and I know that much of what Manning says is true. But the way he says it is very negative, and very abrasive. At one point he talks about how God is 'nauseated' by the ways of contemporary Christians. Really? I didn't realise that the supreme being has gastro-intestinal distress. Come on, this is no better than the Catholic preist who screamed at me from the pulpit that God was insulted if I left right after communion. Is it not ridiculous to assign human frailties to the creator?
With this negative rhetoric, Brennan does exactly what he accuses contemporary Christians of doing, manipulating the text of the bible for his own purposes. There is much to be said for straight and honest commentary, but I will never buy into a book that calls me an idiot, or a ragamuffin. It is just selling self hatred under a different name, under the guise of redefining how we can receive grace. Sorry I don't think it's cute, and I don't buy it. There are many different brands of humility and many different forms of giving and receiving grace. This isn't one of them.
Rating:
Summary: revisting the Ragamuffin Gospel
Review: This is, without a doubt, the best book your gonna get for your buck with the exception of the Bible itself. Manning has made a book for the ages here. I first recommended this book two years ago. It is still my highest recommendation. I'm not joking about this...it is high time for you to get this book. We either don't know or sometimes forget just how much God loves us all. This book drives this point home in the most remarkable ways. If you want to know freedom, if you want to know love, look no further than these pages...Manning tells us where to get these things by introducing us to the only guy who can give them. Get this book.
Rating:
Summary: A new perspective
Review: This is an extremely refreshing view on theology we have heard before. This book opened my eyes to a whole new world and I haven't been the same since. Buy this book, read it cover to cover, and open your heart to a new life with Christ. You will want to buy copies for your friends (and enemies)!
Rating:
Summary: We're all Ragamuffins
Review: Feel good. Read it. You'll find out none of us are perfect.
Rating:
Summary: priceless
Review: The Ragamuffin Gospel.... A changed life, knowing true freedom, and having your soul rocked by the cosmic love of Jesus...Priceless. Thanks Brennan!
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