Gracia Divina vs. Condena Humana = What's So Amazing about Grace
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Gracia Divina vs. Condena Humana = What's So Amazing about Grace

4.21 of 5 stars 4.21  ·  rating details  ·  4,630 ratings  ·  379 reviews
Award-winning author Philip Yancey has a way of toppling convention and getting at the truth. In "What's So Amazing About Grace?", he turns his gift for inquiry to that most basic of all Christian tenets-grace. Grace is the church's great gift to the world, says Yancey. But do Christians really understand grace-and if we do, then why do we experience and show so ...more
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Published by Vida Publishers (first published October 10th 1997)
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Jonathan Bassett
Few books reveal the core of what the grace of the gospel of Jesus Christ is in its frightening, glorious, unparalled nature. Yancey comes very close to doing so in using an array of diverse, complex, beautiful, and amazing stories to illustrate the true grace of the gospel. These stories aren't cheesy, long-winded, and annoying--as many Christian books succumb to when authors seek to illustrate spiritual/Christian concepts through stories--but are transparent, beautiful, sometimes shocking, and...more
Marie
Marie rated it 4 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition
Recommends it for: everyone
Recommended to Marie by: Holly
Yancey is thorough in his examples of grace. He uses his own life experiences, everything from being part of a racist church as a child to interviewing President Clinton to dissect grace. Yancey is clear, grace is the true message of Jesus and today's Christians as a whole are not doing a great job of relaying this message. Grace is the idea that God loves us--all of us--no matter what; no one has to earn God's love. Yancey presents many ways in which the world needs grace. His argument is power...more
Thom
Thom rated it 5 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition
Recommends it for: Any free thinking person
Recommended to Thom by: Lynn Straiton
If all the assholes in the world would read this book, we could finally kick-off that global Kumbaya session I've been rallying for since high school.

This book is no mere Christian pep talk; it is moral philosophy that would make Plato burst out of the Lyceum to proclaim the slaughter of the fattened calf. And by that I mean it's good. Damn good.

Cristian philosophy got a bad wrap during the medieval period after Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas Aquinas published their...more
David
Yancey first strums the sweet sound of grace through the retelling of a story called Babette’s Feast. Through this story, you’ll be deeply impressed with the power of grace to heal and turn around a calcified religious community. Then, having grounded us in the concept that the world can do all things that the church can do except dispense grace, he treats us to two sides of Jesus’ teaching on the subject: His parables (he modernizes them) and His life and teaching (he satirizes them), making th...more
Josh Crews
I got the "visual" edition of this book from Stephie right after I became a Christian in South Africa. (Later I read the full edition)

So I got to dwell by myself in Africa with a Bible, this book, and an RC Sproul book.

The visual pages of What's So Amazing About Grace unfolded as amazing news! Is this really true? God has pardoned dirty criminals through the death of his Son? It's free? No pre-requisites? It's just... by grace? My death sentence for hating God...more
Sparhawk
Definitely one of the most moving, and thoughtful books I've read. The author, Philip Yancey, writes in a very down to earth, easy to follow manner about what grace truly is. Using stories, and examples of situations that happened in his and other peoples lives, he is able to paint us a picture of how truly awesome the power of grace is. One that I think many of us can easily relate to, as we learn how lucky we are to have the opportunity of Grace.

It is a truly humbling read, and ...more
Petrea
The author is, I gather, popular in evangelical Christian circles. He has some really profound things to say. He starts out by discussing the grace of God and he selects certain parables and examples to make his point that God's grace is boundless, and his forgiveness beyond anything we can imagine. Then he devotes the rest of the book to talking about how much grace--or lack of grace--Christians actually exemplify in their doctrines and lives. He grew up in the southern part of the United S...more
Jason
So, this took me a LONG TIME to read. Part of it is Yancey's writing. I can't quite place my finger on it...but it is just difficult to get through at times. I enjoyed the stories that he used throughout the book as illustrations of the various aspects of grace that he wanted to explore, but once those were through and he dove into the subject, it just seemed to stall a little for me.

As to the topic of grace. I thought it was a great exploration and discussion. I reminder of how...more
Sasha
Two words: great book.

Not everyone will necessarily agree with everything Yancey says (he deals in part with controversial issues in our society). However, Yancey seeks to help the reader better understand this gift of God that is the only reason behind our continued existence. By re-telling several true stories (most of them are actually NOT the classic "forgiveness" stories) and pointing out insights from Scripture, he hopes that the reader will truly learn what it means t...more
Jim Behringer
As Yancy usually does, he tackles the hard issues, especially "ungrace" among Christians. He quotes a prostitute about church, "Church! Why would I ever go there? I was already feeling terrible about myself. They'd just make me feel worse." The first section is a beautiful exposition of grace. Yancy uses "Babette's Feast" as a model of grace. C.S. Lewis overheard a debate about Christianity's unique contribution to the world and he responded, "That's eas...more
Danny
Danny rated it 5 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition
Recommends it for: anyone
I enjoyed this fresh look at grace. Some of my favorite quotes include:
In my experience, rejoicing and gladness are not the first images that come to mind when people think of the church. They think of holier-than-thous. They think of church as a place to go after you have cleaned up your act, not before. They think of morality, not grace. "Church!" said the prostitute, "Why would I ever go there? I was already feeling terrible about myself. They'd just make me feel worse."...more
Ebookwormy
I read this book for a book club and strongly disliked it. To me, it was a testimony as to why a journalist should not write theology. I found his thinking to be sloppy, uninformed, and lacking Biblical basis. All of this said, I cannot deny that it fostered a great deal of conversation, and that some of his thoughts were challenging. Just make sure you read a good dose of your Bible before you read Yancy's anecdotes.
Jenifer
And who couldn't use a little more grace?

This Christian writer did a great job of boiling down the concepts of love, repentance and forgiveness into an easy-to-read dose. I like that it would be applicable and relatable to people at any stage of their belief and devotion to living the gospel of Jesus Christ. I also like that this obviously politically right-leaning author was forthcoming in his own struggles with resolving to love others as Jesus did, especially on issues like homosexu...more
Audrey
So this book produced mixed reactions in me. I ended up really liking the author's idea and approach to grace (to unconditional forgiveness). I also appreciated his opinion that if "the church" offered people love and grace, the church would be far more popular and thereby have a greater positive impact on people and the world. At first, and at least to the midway of the book, I was put off by his evangelical Christian background - for the same reason I am put off by all organiz...more
Mariya
Yancey is my favorite Christian writer. This book explains grace and how there is nothing we can do to make God love us any more or less. He simply loves us, regardless of anything. From his grace towards us, we can then learn to be graceful to others - become less judgemental, more forgiving, and significantly more at peace with life.
John
yancey is one of those guys that is a closet liberal that writes to a conservative right-wing audience. i'm glad that he's stayed a part of the ccm movement in order to influence it with his experiences and perspectives. i also enjoyed his reflective, pseudo-contemplative style throughout this book (making it a post-modern hit).
Sam Kang
Grace is such an overlooked word in the modern english language but it is the peculiar distinction that separates the Christian faith apart from all other religions. When Christians stop and actually investigate the Bible, we find that the Bible is littered with grace, beginning all the way in Genesis!
James Wilson
WOW, whether you are a Christian or not this book is an amazing, thought provoking and challenging read.

What can Christianity bring to the world which is unique? Grace, the unfair, undeserved, totally illogical gift, that we are so bad at sharing.

This is not a deep academic about all the aspects of Grace, its an exploration of what grace is, why we need it, and why its hard to accept and to show. Shown through real life stories, and quotes. This book challenged me to the core...more
Rachel
I didn't even get through this book...I realized a few chapters into it that there are absolutely *no* scripture references at all. Oh sure, every once in awhile he'll paraphrase a passage of the Bible, or he'll include a short phrase at the end of a sentence or something (and without the Bible reference too!!), but nowhere did I see an entire verse or saw him use a verse to make a point. I do not agree with Christian, non-fiction writer's who do that - they are man's words...not God's. :(
...more
Sandy
I never really "got" grace until reading this. It's a faith altering concept that challenged and changed the very core of what I believed.

2009 Note: Read this again with a bible study group. Still a great book and led to lots of intense discussion.
Carolyn
Lots of practical stories and applications in this non-fiction book about grace. Grace comes in so many different forms, but what struck me the most was forgiveness and the act of forgiving someone. Which is harder?

The author took real life examples from his life as well as deep rooted divisions in our world history. Such as Jews and Natzis, blacks and whites in the south, Communist Russia, Communist Japan and World War II. While a lot of these examples didn't effect me personall...more
Widsith
The grace of which Philip Yancey writes is the freely given and unmerited favor and love of God. This grace seems a remote, almost sentimental concept, without a place in our lives or our society. It is a vague, slippery thing to us, probably because we seem to experience grace so rarely and have managed to leech the word of meaning. But Philip Yancey has set about to rescue grace in his book What's So Amazing About Grace? [return][return]This grace is the true message of Jesus. All faiths have ...more
Christa
This book made me think a lot about how I act toward others and how I need to show forgiveness more, even when the other person doesn't even realize or think they've done anything wrong. It also made me realize that I need to let others know that I am also a person who needs the grace of Jesus because I have messed up in my life. I'm hoping it will encourage me to make my mistakes a little more transparent to others so they realize how amazing grace really is. On the other hand, I didn't like ho...more
Mya Zwicky
I usually find non-fiction Christian writers really hard to read (in that books seem to take a long time to get through for some strange reason) so was pleasantly surprised that I managed to motor through this one in about the same time it would take me to read a novel.



Writing style aside, this was a very thought-provoking book and a good reminder of what grace is and means in our world today. I did find some of the America-specific sections a bit much at times, but more because they were to do ...more
Leroy Seat
This is a great book. If I had rated it the first time I read it, not long after it was first published, I would have given it five stars. Some of the illustrations are a little dated now, so I did not rate it so highly. Still, it is a great book.

I am currently writing the final chapter of my next book, "Thirty Things Every Christian Need to Know Now," and the title of that chapter is "We Must Remember That The Last Word is Always 'Grace.'" I begin the chapter by...more
Inder
I recently reread this and up'd my review a star for it. I mean to come back and give it a better review, too.
Ron
Even if you think you know the answer, read Yancey's take on it.
Molly
Grace!!! It is the most beautiful gift that God gave His children and I miss it... So often the church straps us with legalism and judgement. To be free to love and understand and accept others - even those in our church - we need to grasp the concept of grace. God gives it to us freely, but we conditionally offer it to others. I wish to understand more of this in my life and pray that God will grant me the understanding. Thanks to Roy and Cindy Taylor who showed me what grace looks like. ...more
Liz
I usually avoid popular Christian writers, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I was deeply challenged to look at how often I lack grace in my dealings with others. Through story after story, Yancey demonstrates how only grace has the power to change the world for the better, and how grace is the true mission of the church. This book made me feel much more hopeful about the state of the world. Grace walks hand in hand with forgiveness and love, and I couldn't ask for more than that people would ...more
Crossroads Ecc
Christianity Today editors' description: With trademark self-deprecation, Yancey wrote: "Grace comes free of charge to people who do not deserve it, and I am one of those people. I think back to who I was—resentful, wound tight with anger, a single hardened link in a long chain of ungrace learned from family and church. Now I am trying in my own small way to pipe the tune of grace. I do so because I know … that any pang of healing or forgiveness or goodness I have ever felt comes solely fr...more
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A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Philip Yancey earned graduate degrees in Communications and English from Wheaton College Graduate School and the University of Chicago. He joined the staff of Campus Life Magazine in 1971, and worked there as Editor and then Publisher. He looks on those years with gratitude, because teenagers are demanding readers, and writing for them taught him a lasting principl...more
More about Philip Yancey...
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“I would far rather convey grace than explain it.” 4 people liked it
“We grow up hungry for love, and in ways so deep as to remain unexpressed we long for our Maker to love us.” 4 people liked it
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