The Gospel -- Good News! -- of God's grace is Brennan's single preoccupation here. He shares the news that Grace is for those who need it. Those who are too proud in themselves to receive grace miss out on it. This is where the ragamuffin comes in. He argues that the beat up, bedraggled, burnt out ragamuffin is the prime candidate for reception of God's grace. Christ came to seek and save the lost, those who are well have no need for a doctor, Christ was accused of identifying himself with sinners by going to their houses to eat and drink, the woman caught in adultery, Zacchaeus, the disciples -- all of these cases strengthen the argument that God gives grace to the humble.
But, Manning insists, this grace is not a new form of meritocracy. Just as one cannot be good enough to deserve God's favor, there is no minimum required length for one's rap sheet in order to merit grace either. Grace is distributed according to the Father's good pleasure. Grace comes because that is what God likes to do. Those who recognize their need are the ones who capitalize on it.
But it's this line that always stops me cold:
At Sunday worship, as in every dimension of our existence, many of us pretend to believe we are sinners. Consequently, all we can do is pretend to believe we have been forgiven. As a result, our whole spiritual life is pseudo-repentance and pseudo-bliss.That's because this book, while written for those who most need to hear the good news of God's grace, will probably find an audience only with those who already think of themselves as ragamuffins -- those who, in the church (like me!), have grown cold to grace as their sense of personal morality increased.
Make no doubt about it, The Ragamuffin Gospel is a real treasure in the Church and for the world. And Brennan knew, first hand, the changes this grace makes in our real lives.
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I received a free copy of this book as part of the Blogging for Books program in exchange for my honest review here.