Quotes from book
The Ragamuffin Gospel

Name: The Ragamuffin Gospel
Author: Brennan Manning

The Ragamuffin Gospel is a book about the essence of Christianity by former Franciscan priest Brennan Manning. Manning argues that Jesus' gospel was one of grace, and that efforts to earn salvation are impossibly misguided. He states that the true meaning of God's grace has been lost in society amidst a constant search to merely please God, as though the Almighty is only a "small minded book keeper," who tallies sins and uses them against humanity. Citing numerous biblical references and utilizing colleagues' stories, Manning illustrates the simple need for humanity to accept the freedom of God's grace, and its power to change lives. A popular quote from the book: “To evangelize a person is to say to him or her: you, too, are loved by God in the Lord Jesus.” It was first published in 1990.

“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.”

Brennan Manning book The Ragamuffin Gospel

p. 11 https://books.google.com/books?id=sUTZCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA11 Source: 1990s, The Ragamuffin Gospel (1990)

“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.”

Brennan Manning book The Ragamuffin Gospel

p. 11 https://books.google.com/books?id=sUTZCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA11 1990s, The Ragamuffin Gospel (1990)

“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.”

Brennan Manning book The Ragamuffin Gospel

p. 11 https://books.google.com/books?id=sUTZCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA11 1990s, The Ragamuffin Gospel (1990)

“I have been seized by the power of a great affection.”

Brennan Manning book The Ragamuffin Gospel

p. 181 https://books.google.com/books?id=sUTZCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA181 1990s, The Ragamuffin Gospel (1990) Source: The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out

“Jesus was victorious not because he never flinched, talked back, or questioned, but having flinched, talked back, and questioned, he remained faithful.”

Brennan Manning book The Ragamuffin Gospel

p. 168 https://books.google.com/books?id=sUTZCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA11&dq=%22My+deepest+awareness+of+myself+is+that+I+am+deeply+loved+by+Jesus+Christ+and+I+have+done+nothing+to+earn+it+or+deserve+it.%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi7yeaQ9ZTkAhUOnFkKHUBmB1sQ6AEwAHoECAAQAg#v=onepage&q=%22My%20deepest%20awareness%20of%20myself%20is%20that%20I%20am%20deeply%20loved%20by%20Jesus%20Christ%20and%20I%20have%20done%20nothing%20to%20earn%20it%20or%20deserve%20it.%22&f=false 1990s, The Ragamuffin Gospel (1990) Source: The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out

“What makes authentic disciples is not visions, ecstasies, biblical mastery of chapter and verse, or spectacular success in the ministry, but a capacity for faithfulness. Buffeted by the fickle winds of failure, battered by their own unruly emotions, and bruised by rejection and ridicule, authentic disciples may have stumbled and frequently fallen, endured lapses and relapses, gotten handcuffed to the fleshpots and wandered into a far county. Yet, they kept coming back to Jesus.”

Brennan Manning book The Ragamuffin Gospel

p. 168 https://books.google.com/books?id=sUTZCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA168 1990s, The Ragamuffin Gospel (1990)

“The noonday devil of the Christian life is the temptation to lose the inner self while preserving the shell of edifying behavior. Suddenly I discover that I am ministering to AIDS victims to enhance my resume. I find I renounced ice cream for Lent to lose five excess pounds… I have fallen victim to what T. S. Eliot calls the greatest sin: to do the right thing for the wrong reason.”

Brennan Manning book The Ragamuffin Gospel

p. 121 https://books.google.com/books?id=sUTZCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA121 1990s, The Ragamuffin Gospel (1990)

“The deeper we grow in the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the poorer we become – the more we realize that everything in life is a gift. The tenor of our lives becomes one of humble and joyful thanksgiving. Awareness of our poverty and ineptitude causes us to rejoice in the gift of being called out of darkness into wondrous light and translated into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son.”

Brennan Manning book The Ragamuffin Gospel

p. 67 https://books.google.com/books?id=sUTZCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA67 1990s, The Ragamuffin Gospel (1990)

“Sheer scholarship alone cannot reveal to us the gospel of grace. We must never allow the authority of books, institutions, or leaders to replace the authority of KNOWING Jesus Christ personally and directly. When the religious views of others interpose between us and the primary experience of Jesus as the Christ, we become unconvicted and unpersuasive travel agents handing out brochures to places we have never visited.”

Brennan Manning book The Ragamuffin Gospel

p. 30 https://books.google.com/books?id=sUTZCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA30 1990s, The Ragamuffin Gospel (1990)