Book Review: The Ragamuffin Gospel

Psalm 25:8 – to me, this is the good news. “Good and upright is the Lord, therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.” He doesn’t instruct the righteous, the religious bureaucrats, the spiritual suburbanites in their well kept neighborhoods with white picket fences. He instructs the sinners. This is grace. Afterall, what would be good about the good news if God was simply a righteous judge who rewarded good and punished evil? It’s good news. “Through no merit of our own, but by His mercy, we have been restored to a right relationship with God through the life, death, and resurrection of His beloved Son” (Manning, p. 20-21).

As someone who has known the Lord since childhood, I fully recognize that I often need a bit of the Gospel 101. I can read the newest books, the Christian bestsellers. And, I like doing that. But, sometimes…sometimes you just need a refresher course to be reminded of what amazed you about the gospel early on and what can still amaze you.

Grace. Furious love. Forgiveness. Wonder.

Brennan Manning’s The Ragamuffin Gospel is like that for me. It isn’t new. And, the content in it isn’t new. In fact, it’s a couple thousand years old. But, it’s not old in the “been there done that” sorta way—despite illustrations that are dated (e.g., Woody Allen films and the Cosby show…classics but dated…and lots of little stories sprinkled throughout that remind me of ones an old school pastor might use). Reading it during this season of my life, I’ve had to remind myself to put down my pen and stop underlining. If you underline whole sections, it negates the point, doesn’t it? And, it makes for a messy page.

The book itself is not the end all. But, the story of Jesus is. Want to be reminded of it?

[I received this book free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing for this review. I was under no obligation to write a positive review. These opinions are my own.]