All Is Grace: A Ragamuffin Memoir

Brennan Manning's books have had a deep impact on my life, and I was eager to read his memoir. His was a life of great purpose and ministry to so many, but riddled with the tragedy of alcoholism. His life of many contradictions gave "All is Grace" rich meaning.

The ruthless honesty of this memoir helps a reader appreciate why Brennan Manning knew so much about God's grace. This helps us understand that God uses broken people to carry good news. Not perfect ones.

I don't know what religious wasteland of performance I might be in if it were not for Brennan Manning's transparent writings. "All is Grace" was like finally sitting down with him and having a conversation. A conversation with my questions that he knew that I would still have and need to be reminded of the liberating/astonishing answers one more time.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It's refreshing to hear such honesty. It made me feel better about my own personal struggles with being a Christian and helped me to see that I'm not as bad as I thought I was. Great read!

Readers will be drawn in by the transparency of the
many stages in Brennan's life, from early age comments by parents to a lack of self confidence, direction, and bouts of alcoholism. Throughout it
all the readers will relate to one or more of these stages to their own life. As you read a sentence,
you have to stop for a moment and think about it as it touches your own life. The love of Jesus is constant.

Brennan Manning gives a painfully honest account of his own life that only increases my level of admiration for him. After hearing him speak over the course of a week at a conference and following his lead each night to dive into my own soul and mind, I went home a new, better person.

Brennan Manning gives a painfully honest account of his own life that only increases my level of admiration for him. After hearing him speak over the course of a week at a conference and following his lead each night to dive into my own soul and mind, I went home a new, better person.

It's classic Manning - with the long perspective. Honest, humble, and not "grandstanding". There is some crossover with his other books, but in a good way. You must read about the "Notorious Sinners" fellowship group. Great idea.

Amazing book about a priest who struggled with loving alchohol. A truly humble priest who is real when he says if it wasn't for grace we'd all be lost. He may have suffered from wet brain but he had a heart of GOLD.

I love the honesty and openness in this

I understood so much more about the challenges of alcohol for my daddy.

I also enjoyed his constant reminder that God loves me no matter what.

His wonderful testimonial letters confirmed all that he said about himself.

I recommend this to anyone who wants to get really honest with themselves.

I never heard of Brennan Manning before, but I got a promo email with this book of his advertised and -- what a marvelous surprise!!

He is a great writer. He pulled me in from the first page. I found his narrative compulsive reading. I love reading about peoples' lives. The unvarnished truth, if that's even possible, told with charm or style or articulate simplicity. I got all three in All Is Grace. He had tough beginnings. That's my favorite. How do people survive and adapt? That's what I always want to know and that's what you get here. I also love reading about people's spiritual experiences. Not preaching, not quoting the Bible, but direct visceral experiencing of God. Brennan Manning is just a really interesting, smart guy who writes beautifully and thinks and feels deeply. He is all too human, with his alcoholism, but who isn't? He's honest. I am grateful for that.

I'd give it five stars, but the book wasn't quite so riveting at the end when he's talking about his pals. I love the tribute he gives them, but they are of no interest to me. I will definitely check out his other books.

Love Brennan Manning. I consider him a mentor I never met. It was hard to read all the trials he went through even to the end but the book left me with believing more in the love of God for me and all of us. If you love Brennan then read this book.

While some may come away with a feeling that Manning is justifying his alcoholism as okay because of grace, that would be missing the whole point of the book. This is simply an honest confession from a man who wishes us to truly understand why grace truly is amazing!

I enjoyed All Is Grace: A Ragamuffin Memoir, very much. I had just completed The first Ragamuffin Gospel, and watched as my life changed. This book built on the original book and filled in many blanks. It is excellent. I highly recommend it for anyone who seeks to know freedom and the truth. It speaks of a Father that loves me in the truest sense, and He loves me just as I am, not as I should be. None of us are as we should be. But comprehending a love this deep is the mission of this book. I commend Brennan Manning for communicating just that in a most effective way. It's a hard book to put down.

So completely honest, it made me cry. Yet inspirational and uplifting. We all have dependencies that rupture our relationship with God, yet He remains faithful. Everyone should read this.

Saundra Cuyler

Brennan's confession is filled with honesty and testifies to the truth of his message: God loves us unconditionally as we are, not as we should be. I found it well worth the short time it took to read it.

The incredible honesty of Brennan Manning breathes life into nearly every word of this book.It is humbling to read the depth of the wisdom in his memoirs.There is no apparent "ego" in his writing but a strong, quiet "ruthless" trust.I can honestly say he is the most open & honest writer I have ever read.
Grateful that I have the opporunity of enjoying his life experience & forthrightness.
Rev Colin Andrews

Good read, shows some insight into Manning's life and what lay behind his popular books on grace and Abba. I was a bit disappointed in that the stories he shared emphasized the "ragamuffin" part of his life, and it wasn't until an afterward was written by another writer that the "All is Grace" part of the title came thru clearly. BM speaks with clarity about his failures, but oddly, doesn't balance it nicely with how God's grace was found in all of it.

A book worth reading as it is clear Brennan Manning loved the Lord dearly. He tried to serve Him faithfully yet struggled with pain and strongholds daily. The ragamuffin as Brennan calls himself and others who struggle as he did is so aware of and grateful for one of the most amazing gifts His Father gave him - grace!