The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out

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The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out

4.18 of 5 stars 4.18 · rating details · 12,106 ratings · 583 reviews

A Furious Love Is Hot on Your Trail!
Many believers feel stunted in their Christian growth. We beat ourselves up over our failures and, in the process, pull away from God because we subconsciously believe He tallies our defects and hangs His head in disappointment. In this newly repackaged edition--now with full appendix, study questions, and the author's own epilogue, ""R...more A Furious Love Is Hot on Your Trail!
Many believers feel stunted in their Christian growth. We beat ourselves up over our failures and, in the process, pull away from God because we subconsciously believe He tallies our defects and hangs His head in disappointment. In this newly repackaged edition--now with full appendix, study questions, and the author's own epilogue, ""Ragamuffin" Ten Years Later," Brennan Manning reminds us that nothing could be further from the truth. The Father beckons us to Himself with a "furious love" that burns brightly and constantly. Only when we truly embrace God's grace can we bask in the joy of a gospel that enfolds the most needy of His flock--the "ragamuffins."
Are you bedraggled, beat-up, burnt-out?
Most of us believe in God's grace--in theory. But somehow we can't seem to apply it in our daily lives. We continue to see Him as a small-minded bookkeeper, tallying our failures and successes on a score sheet.
Yet God gives us His grace, willingly, no matter what we've done. We come to Him as ragamuffins--dirty, bedraggled, and beat-up. And when we sit at His feet, He smiles upon us, the chosen objects of His "furious love."
Brennan Manning 's now-classic meditation on grace and what it takes to access it--simple honesty--has changed thousands of lives. Now with a Ragamuffin's thirty-day spiritual journey guide, it will change yours, too.
Starburst:
Includes New 30-Day
Spiritual Journey Guide
****
" Brennan Manning does a masterful job of blowing the dust off of shop-worn theology and allowing God's grace to do what only God's grace can do--amaze."
Max Lucado
Bestselling author of "The Gift for AllPeople"
"I found deep comfort in realizing that Jesus loves even me, a ragamuffin, just as I am."
Michael Card
Musician, recording artist, and author of "A Violent Grace"
"This is a zestful and accurate portrayal that tells us unmistakably that the gospel is good, dazzlingly good."
Eugene Peterson
Author of "The Message"
Story Behind the Book
The world assigns value to people using measurable standards. Someone is a successful student if she receives As. Someone is a strong athlete if he runs five miles a day. The Lord, however, knows nothing of standards. "The Ragamuffin Gospel" was inspired by Brennan Manning after he discovered firsthand what it means to live by grace instead of performance. His words bring new life and sweet refreshment to Christians who are tired of never measuring up.(less)

Paperback, 240 pages

Published June 8th 2000 by Multnomah (first published 1990)

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Mar 21, 2008 Doreen rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: every Christian

This book changed my life. Some people may have trouble getting through it because it really challenged a lot of things that you may have held onto tightly for so long. But even if you don't agree with everything (there are a few things here and there), there is a tremendous amount of wisdom that can be gleaned from the author's insight. Upon reading this wonderful book, my eyes were open to a whole new world that I wasn't even aware that they were previously closed to. It knocked me around emot...more

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Jul 16, 2012 Dixie rated it 5 of 5 stars

I am a bedraggled, beaten up, messy ragamuffin. I am a former ministry junkie with a bad habit of seeking to please almost everyone and desperately trying to hide my sins from those who expect me to be clean and white-washed as they are. I have fallen and fallen again. Mostly I failed myself. Thank God. It was time for that old life to disappear!

And it was time for me to read this lovely book. I stopped many times to wipe my eyes, to pray for forgiveness and acceptance of mercy and grace and to...more

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Jun 16, 2008 Claire rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone who isn't sure Christianity has a place for them because they aren't perfect

Recommended to Claire by: Rich Mullins

Shelves: my-happy-books, poetry-essays-nonfiction, this-is-my-catholicism, top-25-of-all-time, five-stars, youth-ministry

The best way I can describe this book is to quote from it:

---------------------------------------------------------------

"When I get honest, I admit I am a bundle of paradoxes. I believe and I doubt, I hope and get discouraged, I love and I hate, I feel bad about feeling good, I feel guilty about not feeling guilty. I am trusting and suspicious. I am honest and I still play games. Aristotle said I am a rational animal; I say I am an angel with an incredible capacity for beer. To live by grace m...more

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Apr 18, 2011 Molly rated it 4 of 5 stars

It is Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up and Burnt Out. And, I don't care what anyone says, ALL OF US are ONE of those at one point or another in our lives. If you are shaking your head "not me" then please read this book to have the rose washed off your frames. :)

I was reading this book when I read The Shack and there are element and themes that are similar in both books, but this one is not listed as a work of fiction (be cause it is not).

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Feb 01, 2009 Jen rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Christian misfits

Recommended to Jen by: my sister

Shelves: spirituality-religion

If you are interested in the Christian faith but find it self-righteous and restricting, this book might be a refreshing change of pace. This writer definitely refrains from judgement, and makes the case for self-acceptance of your own frailty and affirms that God eagerly takes on "special cases", and he proves we all somehow fall in that category. It is a humble book that gently puts it arms around those who have failed miserably in their faith and yet still want to try to find their way toward...more

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May 01, 2013 Todd Wilhelm rated it 5 of 5 stars

"The North American church is at a critical juncture. The gospel of grace is being confused and compromised by silence, seduction, and outright subversion. The vitality of faith is jeopardized. The lying slogans of the fixers who carry religion like a sword of judgment pile up with impunity.

Let ragamuffins everywhere gather as a confessing church to cry out in protest. Revoke the licenses of religious leaders who falsify the idea of God. Sentence them to three years in solitude with the Bible as...more "The North American church is at a critical juncture. The gospel of grace is being confused and compromised by silence, seduction, and outright subversion. The vitality of faith is jeopardized. The lying slogans of the fixers who carry religion like a sword of judgment pile up with impunity.

Let ragamuffins everywhere gather as a confessing church to cry out in protest. Revoke the licenses of religious leaders who falsify the idea of God. Sentence them to three years in solitude with the Bible as their only companion.

Mary Magdalene stands as a witness par excellence to the ragamuffin gospel. On Good Friday she watched as the man she loved got blown away in the most brutal and dehumanizing fashion. The focus of her attention, however, was not on suffering but the suffering Christ "who loved me and gave himself for me (Galations 2:20}. Never allow these words to be interpreted as allegory in the life of Magdalene. The love of Jesus was a burning and divine reality to her: She would have been buried in history as some unknown hooker save for the Christ encounter.

She has no understanding of God, church, religion, prayer, or ministry except in terms of the Sacred Man who loved her and delivered Himself up for her. The unique place that Magdalene occupies in the history of discipleship owes not to her mysterious love for Jesus but to the miraculous transformation that His love wrought in her life. She simply let herself be loved. "The central truth for which Mary's life has come to stand is that it is possible to be delivered through love from the lowest depths to the shining heights where God dwelleth."

Where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more.

When Jesus asked Peter on the Tiberian seashore, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me?" He added nothing else; what he said was enough. Do you love me? Can you allow My love to touch you in your weakness, set you free, and empower you there? Thereafter, the only power Peter had was Jesus' love for him. He told and retold the story of his own unfaithfulness and how Jesus touched him. When he proclaimed the gospel of grace, he preached from his weakness the power of God. That is what converted the Roman world and what will convert us, and the people around us, if they see the love of Christ has touched us.

The confessing church of American ragamuffins needs to join Magdalene and Peter in witnessing that Christianity is not primarily a moral code but a grace-laden mystery; it is not essentially a philosophy of love but a love affair; it is not keeping rules with clenched fists but receiving a gift with open hands.

Several years ago, the renowned evangelical theologian Francis Schaeffer wrote, "True spirituality consists in living moment to moment by the grace of Jesus Christ." This book lays no claim to originality; it is simply a commentary on Schaeffer's statement. As C.S. Lewis was fond of saying, people need more to be reminded than to be instructed."

pages 148-150(less)

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Dec 27, 2012 Joannebmcmillan rated it 5 of 5 stars

I first heard Brennan Manning speaking over Christian Radio in the mid 90s and was so moved that I began to cry uncontrollably in the car. I was (and always will be) a big Rich Mullins fan and later learned that Rich had the same experience after his best friend, "Beaker" forced him to listen to one of Manning's tapes on the way to a gig.

I can't say that I agree with EVERYTHING that Manning says in his book, but I think that the most important things that got my attention and have kept it ever...more

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Jun 08, 2012 KellyElaine rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

While I'm typically not a fan of the "Christian Living" books, this one I've held onto and re-read (and passed along) because it is unique in its purpose and message. It's not for someone who thinks they "have it all together"; it's for the jaded, broken, wandering & wondering. I don't think the "average Christian" is open to or even capable of truly understanding its message.

This book "gave a body" to this abstract, difficult-to-grasp concept of grace and the part it should play in our dail...more

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Mar 16, 2012 Jason Leonard rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

I almost gave it 3 stars and then remembered its intended audience: the bedraggled and beat up. If you have not wrestled with the depth of grace and love in Christ Jesus - namely that He died for you while you were in the midst of your sin - this message is needed. "forgiveness precedes repentance" This is one of the best phrases is the book and sums up much of what Manning is saying.

I typically like something more intellectual or something more narrative; this is a sort of smorgasbord of thoug...more

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Oct 20, 2011 Anne Marie rated it 5 of 5 stars

This may be one of the best books that I have read on the grace God. It is like reading the Book of Romans where the Apostle Paul skillfully presents salvation by faith through God’s grace. Manning says he wrote the book “for the bedraggled, beat-up, and burnt-out,” the marginalized folks to whom Jesus ministered: the children, the ill, the tax collectors, the adulterers and extortionists. In other words, the ragamuffins. Manning understands better than most that behind our facades of order and...more

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May 03, 2011 Maggie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, christianity

I have a confession to make. Sometimes when I sing songs of worship in church, I wonder why we do this. Is it necessary to tell God over and over how great He is? Isn't it better to go straight to the sermon and learn how to obey God and lead Godly lives?

Now I know why we sing. We sing because God is not just floating above us, He is in us and it is by his grace that we can sing. We sing because there is no point learning how to do good works when it is grace, not works, that saves us.

This book...more

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Feb 26, 2011 Eric Sundquist rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I went into this book (written in 1990) thinking, "Okay, author, what are you going to tell me that I haven't read in the authors pumping out books after you?" I had planned to zip through it as quick as possible to check it off the list and put it on the shelf.

It didn't take too many pages for me to realize that this was not that kind of book. This is the kind of book you put on your "I need to reread this every few years so I don't forget how important the message is" shelf.

Brennan Manning's m...more

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Jul 25, 2011 Nathan added it · review of another edition

Honestly, I teeter-tottered on this book.

Some parts stirred my soul even to tears with the truth of the Gospel. Others furrowed my brow, leaving question marks in the margins. Sometimes this was all within the span of a single page.

Upon reflection, I've come to this conclusion:

FOR BELIEVERS (for sons and daughters of God), the essence of this book should strike a beautiful chord in our hearts and minds. I like Manning's words:

"He is the only God man has ever heard of who loves sinners... Through...more

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Jul 22, 2011 Amanda rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

FIRST TIME READING: I absolutely loved this book. It's true that he says a lot of controversial things, but it's very thought-provoking. It caused me to take a long hard look at my spirituality. For a long time I felt like I didn't measure up to God's expectations and I was constantly frustrated because I never felt like I was good enough. Now I know I'm not good enough -- and it's okay! I am loved anyway. :) Brennan Manning does a beautiful job illuminating God's love.

SECOND TIME READING: This...more

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May 25, 2010 Devin rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: christian

I was first introduced to Brennan Manning when I read his Above All: He Took the Fall and Thought of Me which is basically an exposition on Michael W. Smith's song "Above All." In that book, I saw some serious problems in his thought, but people assured me that I was simply misunderstanding what he had to say and that Brennan Manning really is a good guy who is faithful to what the Bible teaches. I was told that reading The Ragamuffin Gospel would accurately represent Manning's teaching. If thi...more

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Mar 18, 2009 Katie rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: stoners who want to feel smug about it in a Christian way

This book did not pass my 100-page test. I desperately wanted to love it, and it started out seeming so promising. I was worried about the gimmicky 19-step program addendum tacked onto the end, true. And I was worried when I looked on Amazon and saw that the author seems to have made something of a cottage industry of spin-off volumes and workbooks and so forth. The profile of the author, too, seemed a little cheesy and weirdly evasive. Still I tried to put all of that aside and keep an open min...more This book did not pass my 100-page test. I desperately wanted to love it, and it started out seeming so promising. I was worried about the gimmicky 19-step program addendum tacked onto the end, true. And I was worried when I looked on Amazon and saw that the author seems to have made something of a cottage industry of spin-off volumes and workbooks and so forth. The profile of the author, too, seemed a little cheesy and weirdly evasive. Still I tried to put all of that aside and keep an open mind, as I'm always eager to hear about grace, and that seemed to be what this was about.

Well alas, everything good he had to say about the topic seemed to be said in the first 25 pages, and then periodically reiterated. And aside from that, everything there is to say of this nature about grace has already been said better and more eloquently and with more humbleness by Martin Luther or one of his disciples.

Manning, on the other hand, set to work right away on alienating me and creeping me out. I was already starting to get a nasty "Oprah Book Club" vibe off of him, and then on page 48 (in my edition) he dropped in a massive, massive overshare that may have made me throw up in my mouth just a little. I've read far more disgusting things in books (not to mention online) but the random way he just tossed this anecdote in there creeped me out. I felt, honestly, a bit violated to have this "TMI" thrown at me out of nowhere, for no particular reason other than shock effect. At that point, I began skimming, then speed-skimming, to see if it was going to get any better, any less gimmicky or more deep and interesting. It didn't.

At some point I caught him using the term "inner child" and the book was officially dead to me.

Mannning is definitely of the "Jesus was a closet socialist/Jesus was a hippie misfit" school of thought. He beats you over the head over and over again that Jesus likes dropouts (like himself, an ex-Franciscan) and addicts (like himself, a recovering alcoholic) and prostitutes, and lepers. All of this is neatly decontextualized of the actual Gospel context, so unless you know a decent amount about the New Testament you are helpless to refute his various assertations and are likely to just go with them, even when he is seriously erroneous. Manning seems to really have it in for educated people, theologians, people who aren't poor, and especially for the archetypical "upstanding matronly woman." As an educated and decidedly matronly woman I got the impression that he felt Jesus' love and acceptance extended to me, but only grudgingly. Twould be better were I a reformed hooker or some other kind of "leper." As they say, when you have re-created God in your own image...you have committed blasphemy.

Dude even shares an anecdote meant to demonstrate we are to "loosen up." Yes, he told me to "loosen up." This is so junior high school, where being the smart, good kid is "bad" and being the smartaleck, underachiever is "good." I expect more from my Christianity than this upside-down world contrarianism, thank you very much.(less)

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Stephanie I respect your opinion of the book but I wanted to comment on one thing you said about the book and it's "hippie misfit" character. I'm not an amazing...more
Dec 30, 2009 12:46am

Ken "twould be better to be a reformed hooker or some other kind of leper". If you don't see your sin in this kind of light you have no need of grace whic...more
Jan 06, 2011 05:24pm

Oct 23, 2012 Jennannej rated it 5 of 5 stars

From the get-go, I loved this book. Full of grace and love, this book describes the love of God for people as displayed in the Bible. It is so easy sometimes to get caught up in the rules and morality upheld by the church and to forget that God's love and grace towards us is the most important and constant theme.

pg20
Eugene O'Neill's play The Great God Brown: "Why am I afraid to dance, I who love music and rhythm and grace and song and laughter? Why am I afraid to live, I who love life and the b...more From the get-go, I loved this book. Full of grace and love, this book describes the love of God for people as displayed in the Bible. It is so easy sometimes to get caught up in the rules and morality upheld by the church and to forget that God's love and grace towards us is the most important and constant theme.

pg20
Eugene O'Neill's play The Great God Brown: "Why am I afraid to dance, I who love music and rhythm and grace and song and laughter? Why am I afraid to live, I who love life and the beauty of flesh and the living colors of the earth and sky and sea? Why am I afraid to love, I who love love?"

pg26
When I get honest, I admit I am a bundle of paradoxes. I believe and I doubt, I hope and get discouraged, I love and I hate, I feel bad about feeling good, I feel guilty about not feeling guilty. I am trusting and suspicious. I am honest and I still play games. Aristotle said I am a rational animal; I say I am an angel with an incredible capacity for beer.
To live by grace means to acknowledge my whole life story, the light side and the dark. In admitting my shadow side I learn who I am and what God's grace means. As Thomas Merton put it, "A saint is not someone who is good but who experiences the goodness of God."

pg29
You are accepted. Never confuse your perception of yourself with the mystery that you really are accepted.

pg84
Once we accept the gospel of grace and seek to shed defense mechanisms and subterfuges, honesty becomes both more difficult and more important. Honesty involves the willingness to face the truth of who we are, regardless of how threatening or unpleasant our perceptions may be. It means hanging in there with ourselves and with God, learning our mind tricks by experiencing how they defeat us, recognizing our avoidances, acknowledging our lapses, learning completely that we cannot handle it ourselves. This steady self-confrontation requires strength and courage. We cannot use failure as an excuse to quit trying.

pg136
The way we are with each other is the truest test of our faith. How I treat a brother or sister from day to day, how I react to the sin-scarred wino on the street, how I respond to interruptions from people I dislike, how I deal with normal people in their normal confusion on a normal day may be a better indication of my reverence for life than the anti-abortion sticker on the bumper of my car.

pg158
Second journeys usually end quietly with a new wisdom and a coming to a true sense of self that releases great power. The wisdom is that of an adult who has regained equilibrium, stabilized, and found fresh purpose and new dreams. It is a wisdom that gives some things up, lets some things die, and accepts human limitations. It is a wisdom that realizes: I cannot expect anyone to understand me fully. It is a wisdom that admits the inevitability of old age and death.

pg159
The second journey begins when we know we cannot live the afternoon of life according to the morning program. We are aware that we only have a limited amount of time left to accomplish that which is really important – and that awareness illumines for us what really matters, what really counts. This conviction provides a new center.(less)

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Sep 21, 2011 Joon Park rated it 4 of 5 stars

Here's a test for you: While reading this book, were you stirred with compassion or contempt? It will speak volumes about how much you get God's grace.

While not agreeable on every point, Brennan Manning has written one of the most down-to-earth classics of Christian literature. There is a lot to love here amidst some of the shaky theology, and though critics jump in through those cracks with plenty of complaints, there is no denying the wonderful power of the cross in Manning's work. He has dra...more Here's a test for you: While reading this book, were you stirred with compassion or contempt? It will speak volumes about how much you get God's grace.

While not agreeable on every point, Brennan Manning has written one of the most down-to-earth classics of Christian literature. There is a lot to love here amidst some of the shaky theology, and though critics jump in through those cracks with plenty of complaints, there is no denying the wonderful power of the cross in Manning's work. He has drawn a picture of grace bigger and better than any modern Christian author has even remotely attempted.

Let's get this out of the way: Brennan Manning talks about sin. He does not ignore it. Any critic who says so is selectively reading. His story of Max the lying drunk is horrific; it is exactly what sin does to an unrepentant fool. Manning's work is also largely reactionary to the stifling legalism of modern churches. Of course he overwhelms with grace. So did Jesus. If so much grace bothers you, it's possible the book is aiming right at your uptight moralism, just as it did mine.

I was thoroughly challenged on much I had believed about God's love. I always knew the immensity of God's wrath. The Asian community emphasizes more fear and respect for authority than almost any other culture in the world. It has shaped the Asian-Christian church to near-unbearable imprisonment. The book was literally a breath of fresh air for me. Manning makes a razor sharp focus on God's grace because he assumes you have been exhausted by legalities. Of course this can backfire; it will make you uncomfortable if you violently uphold sound doctrine, or if you don't have a healthy fear of God. If you're expecting a balanced work, go pick up a brick of systematic theology. This work makes ONE case. I hope that's okay for some of you doctrine-loving seminarians (I am one).

Manning is talking to real live people with real problems who do not need one more exegesis on all the Greek permutations of an aorist verb. He speaks to broken people drowning in their sinful filth. Like the kind of people Jesus ate with. I loved how Manning spoke to people with real struggles. Doctrine should never be cold and calculating. Please gut check yourself on that, as I did while reading.

There is much to disagree with as well. Concepts of self-love and inner-child and unqualified tolerance are a bit trite and even counterproductive to his writing. He plain stumbles through some of these ideas. But to write him off simply because you find that "detestable" is a little strange. Even arrogant.

When we hear of God's grace, do you feel compassion or contempt? The Ragamuffin Gospel will draw you to one or the other. I can almost guarantee that if you feel contempt, you might be the same way with others, or you will defend yourself about it. In other words, Manning may have achieved his goal: to bring you out of your safe church brain and into the heart of Jesus. As he calls it, the Second Journey. We'd be wise not to shut that down so fast.

(less)

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Jan 20, 2012 Gregg rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: reading-list-sbf

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.

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 imme...more

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Jun 18, 2011 Daniel Tackett rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: biblical

A feel-good gospel. Many of the points put forth in the book are unbiblical and contribute little towards the discipleship of God's people. Beyond these things, the book gets incredibly redundant after the first couple of chapters. I read this as a part of a small group bible study. While it did provoke discussion, it was generally to refute something Manning had said.

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Feb 14, 2013 Jeff rated it 5 of 5 stars

Grace. That's all this book is about, and it does an amazing job at getting the point across.

Grace that you really can't do anything to deserve it (in the positive or negative light) and yet God desires us to simply receive His grace.

The stories Manning tells are good, and meaningful and to the point. The newest edition has a "retreat" and afterwords on the impact of the book!

Seriously, I have not read a better book about grace that speaks to people regardless of where they are at in their jou...more

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Jan 31, 2011 Steve rated it 3 of 5 stars

Manning's book is certainly heartfelt and genuine, but I found it difficult to fully connect with his writing.

I do agree with his fundamental premise regarding God's message of salvation for all. I've certainly had enough "ragamuffin" experiences that I could relate to the stories and appreciate the message. I do think it was a valuable use of my time to read The Ragamuffin Gospel and do recommend it to others.

With all of that said, there are some books that "start slow", but after a while I si...more

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May 07, 2013 Jeff rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In The Ragamuffin Gospel, Brennan Manning takes the grace and love of God to a new level. I had read this once before, but this time, it held so much more meaning for me. I guess I'm just more ripe for what he had to say this time around.

What is our motivation for doing "good works?" Are we trying to please God? Are we trying to get him to love us more? That's not a good motive, because it's not possible for God to love me any more than he already does. Neither is it possible for him to love me...more

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Dec 12, 2010 Beth rated it 4 of 5 stars

I really liked this book. The author tends to ramble and isn't always as focused as you'd like, but he really hits home the fundamental fact that grace is what Christianity is all about and nothing we do or don't do affects our standing in God's eyes. Also, that operating outside of God's grace just leads to burn out and ineffectiveness. He's a proponent of not doing just to do. He says that Christians need to daily accept and live in God's grace and give that grace to others. If we're not embra...more

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Jan 04, 2010 Darren rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book is pretty challenging in getting you thinking about grace and the character of God. I can see why it is so controversial, because legalism is so much easier to grasp, conceptually and also emotionally, because it gives us a feeling of balance and justice.

Manning is incessant in his account of the Lord's mercy and the truth about our sinful and imperfect nature. There is so much to glean from this book, but a thesis is not one of them, it's very much a process more than a case or an arg...more

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Mar 15, 2011 Grace rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: christian-non-fiction

God's grace is more than enough, He loves you as much as he loves me!

A easy read depicting the love that God has for all of creation!

Some of my favorite quotes from this book are:

"Any church that will not accept that it consist of sinful men and women, and exists for them, implicitly rejects the gospel of grace."

"A sad Christian is a phony Christian and a guilty Christian is no Christian at all."

"The way we are with each other is the truest test of our faith. How I treat a brother or sister fro...more

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Nov 22, 2012 Dan rated it 4 of 5 stars

A good litmus of how different Christianity is in the USA from the UK. Manning's book is truly radical in its context, where a 'spiritual' emphasis in the churches has led to a distancing, even a suspicion of social action, and in the absence of a distinct political philosophy, conservatism tends to hold sway. Compare with Britain, where a far more centrist politics sits easily with the church and (in the first decade of the C21st) a convergence has been taking place between evanglical theology...more

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Sep 21, 2011 Paul Mullen rated it 3 of 5 stars

If you're trying to get the essence of the Christian Gospel, then this book captures it with clarity and wit.

As the author says in the afterword, there is not much in here that is new. Kind of makes sense. In one sense the message was laid down an eternity ago, or two thousand years ago, so it's not new in an absolute sense. An yet the organized church has let its attempts to clarify and codify and control the core message obscure a clear view of the message itself. What was new 10 years ago at...more

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Jun 25, 2011 Barry rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Reading like an academic treatise, Mr. Manning purports to write for the common Christian. His use of large words and seemingly grandiose examples of grace and faith may keep this book from sinking in to "the masses". Near as I can tell there are some absolute gems in it, and it's filled with quotable phrases and paragraphs. Encouraging us to look past our faults and see ourselves as God sees us, Mr. Manning demonstrates that we are God's beloved who does not dwell on our past failures. His view...more

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Dec 01, 2011 Charis rated it 4 of 5 stars

I have heard Brennan Manning speak publicly, he has a gift for simplicity, honesty and true passion in sharing the gospel. I was not disappointed with the Ragamuffin Gospel. Brennan admits he has been branded a heretic because of his presentation of absolute grace and the depravity of humans separate from the Creator. But Brennan's words of love and joy, grace to the lowliest of us are the foundations of the Gospel.

I do not generally like Christian Inspiration, but the Ragamuffin Gospel is simp...more

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About Brennan Manning

Richard Francis Xavier Manning, known as Brennan Manning (April 27, 1934 – April 12, 2013)was an American author, friar, priest, contemplative and speaker.Born and raised in Depression-era New York City, Manning finished high school, enlisted in the US Marine Corps, and fought in the Korean War. After returning to the United States, he enrolled at Saint Francis University in Loretto, Pennsylvania....more

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Books by Brennan Manning

Abba's Child: The Cry of the Heart for Intimate Belonging

Ruthless Trust: The Ragamuffin's Path to God

The Signature of Jesus: The Call to a Life Marked by Holy Passion and Relentless Faith

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Quotes from The Ragamuffin Gospel:...

“My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ and I have done nothing to earn it or deserve it.” — 298 people liked it

“The temptation of the age is to look good without being good.” — 80 people liked it

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title link	preview: The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out
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The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out

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