Customer Reviews

What's So Amazing About Grace?

5 star:		(203)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

I have found myself telling people stories and quotes from this book so often that I figured it was time for me to throw my two cents out there. Philip Yancey has almost surpassed C.S. Lewis as the most insightful Christian writer I have read. And while as a philosopher I greatly appreciate the idea-based insight that Lewis provides, Yancey's works seem to offer more practical advice and help to answer the question: "How then should we live?" After reading this book, I can't see Grace anymore as just one of those things that's meant to make us feel warm and fuzzy inside. I mean, Yancey's depictions often do bring those warm and fuzzy feelings, but more than that, it shows the unquestionable POWER and STRENGTH that is contained within grace. It's not just a nice, sweet little virtue that we do because it's easy. This book showed me that Grace is life changing and necessary. And when I read the part where the civil rights worker looks out the window and through laughter and tears first understands what grace really is, that was the moment when I truly began to understand what grace really is. And it truly is amazing.

Book of the Year winner, this is the best book, outside of the Bible, that I have ever read. Period. Here Yancey presents a radical picture of what Grace, the last good word, really is. As usual, his writing style is very down to earth, real, empathetic, and insightful. How do we deal with the idea of Grace combined with things like Nazi Germany, the KKK, and Columbine high school? Can we reconcile the two in our minds? We must, if we are to view Grace as it is truely presented in the Bible. Grace is scandelous. But scandelous Grace is what God demands of His church. Real Grace forgives the unforgiveable, loves the unloveable, and reaches even to the undesirable. And when true Grace is emparted, the world sees Christ, for Christ's Grace given to us is just as amazing. Yancey's words here are sometimes shocking, as it is difficult for the rational human mind to empart Grace when we automatically demand justice. But none the less, his words are Biblically true and so the challenge is for the church to apply these lessons. Read this book. Open your heart. Accept the Grace that God emparts to you and then empart Grace to those in your life. Learning to empart Grace, and in the process destroying the cycle of un-grace, will utterly change your world. There is no other book that I can recommend more to a Christian searching to be and love like Jesus. Five stars.

I have faithfully been part of a church and studying the bible for the last 20 years. I have a relationship with the Holy Spirit and have visited many churches, denominations, and religions. Though many churches have preached the gospel and spoke of God's grace, none have compared or grasped the understanding that Philip Yancey has seemed to capture in the book titled, "What's So Amazing About Grace?" It will not only make you truly understand God's Grace, but it will help to heal you from much pain and guilt, you yourself, other poeple, or even churches have placed on you. Too many churches preach the hard law and forget the whole point of the gospel...God's amazing, underserved grace! Oh, how refreshing and enlightening! Moses brought the law, Jesus brought truth and grace.

In this book, Philip Yancey writes candidly and passionately about the issue of grace. He focuses on God's grace, and what a grace filled Christian life should look like. In the process, he unapologetically points out examples of ungrace in the attitudes and behaviors of Christians, and talks about some of these people by name. Clearly, this is a book that was written not in pursuit of winning a popularity contest, but to squarely challenge the church on a number of fronts. For the most part, I think Yancey succeeds.

The strength of the book is clearly Yancey's treatment of both the grace of God and living a grace filled life. Yancey recounts personal experiences that stretch across a wide array of circumstances and episodes to bring home the point that our culture is desperately in a mood to find grace, and that this represents an enormous opportunity for the church. One of the key premises of the book is Yancey's belief that the Christian church is the only entity or system with the ability to offer grace to people, since God's grace, when Biblically practiced, turns many societal norms upside down. Yancey is therefore imploring the church to return to a grace system that no other system outside the church can offer, so that the masses in search of grace will find it in the church, rather than not finding it at all. I found this line of reasoning to be quite persuasive.

I gave the book 4 stars instead of 5 because I felt that Yancey lost control of his subject matter a bit when discussing the relationship between the church and the state. Yancey feels very strongly that evangelicalism's preoccupation (as he sees it) with political issues like abortion and homosexuality have greatly tarnished the reputation of the church among those looking for forgiveness and grace, but not seeing much of it in evangelical circles due to their political activism in these areas. I felt that Yancey was being both unbalanced and inconsistent in this area. First of all, such an assertion makes the false assumption that everybody who has a problem with Christianity or Christians feels the way they do for legitimate reasons that can be traced back to the behavior of Christians, with no ulterior motives. This is not universally true, and should not be assumed as such. Secondly, there are times in this section when Yancey applauds (properly so, in my view) Christian activism in the areas of abolition, civil rights, medical care, and education. But these affirmations come within a section of the book that is generally hostile to Christian activism in political matters. Further, Yancey believes that evangelicalism seems more concerned with more trivial things than major things, and that this is a problem. Maybe so, but as even he says in this book, no sin is trivial to God. So the question Yancey creates for himself is who exactly is going to decide which things are trivial and which aren't? By making this assertion, Yancey is bending dangerously close to appointing himself as the gatekeeper of the exact kind of rule making legalism he writes in such strong opposition to. The bottom line, which Yancey is less than lucid about here, is that Christians have the right and the duty to take their faith beyond the church walls and allow God to use them to change the culture, which includes the political and social culture. This, however, must be done Biblically, which means as Christians, we must conduct ourselves with dignity and love. Yancey, unfortunately, spends about 5 chapters decrying the methods used by some Christians to impact the culture, without sufficiently making a balanced distinction between the Christian's duty to Biblically live out their faith in all spheres of life, versus the mistake of putting the political cause we champion above the spiritual Cause that motivates us, thus tainting our motives and techniques. In his section on the political arena, Yancey greatly emphasizes the latter, but mostly ignores the former, thus generating a perspective that I found imbalanced.

But overall, I think this is a challenging book that hits on many good points and identifies several areas where the church is in need of improvement. In that light, this book is a valuable resource.

This could be one of the best "faith" books I have ever read. In a day and age where platitudes reign in sermons, Yancey is able to drill down into the core purpose of Christianity. His perspective on grace is refreshing, eye opening, and portrayed in way that entices you to want to learn more. One of my favorite excerpts which is the real premise of the book: Mark Twain used to talk about people who were "good in the worst sense of the word," a phrase that, for many, captures the reputation of Christians today. Recently, I have been asking a qustion of strangers when I strike up a conversation. "When I say the words 'evangelical Christian' what comes to mind?" In reply, mostly I hear political descriptions: of strident pro-life activists, or gay-rights opponents, or proposals for censoring the Internet. Not once - not once - have I heard a description redolent of grace. Apparently this is not the aroma Christians give off in the world.

...Yet somehow throughout history the church has managed to gain a reputation for its ungrace. As a little English girl prayer, "O God, make the bad people good and the good people nice."

Great book and a must read.

I was attracted to this book by the long list of recommendation on the back cover and the stamp that said it's the 1996 book of the year by a publisher association. As a Chinese born and living in Hong Kong, I took them as sheer American style marketing gimmick. The fact is, I had been 100% wrong.

I had read tens if not over a hundred Christian books and this is by far the best I ever picked. It had corrected many of my misunderstandings or ignorance about Jesus, His Grace and His teachings. Say, I can disagree with homosexuality, adultery, communism but I still have to love patients, victims and sinners as Jesus did. Non violent protest can still mean a lot as what Martin Luther King did. Legalism and perfectionism can do more harm than good in evangelistic sense coz humans tend to break rules innately, and rule-breaking will haunt somebody from church and God, and that of one hundred men one read the Bible and the ninty nine read Christians etc etc.

Some reviewers criticized that the author had tried to preach his own secular view instead of Jesus's teachings, to replace God's high grace with low human love and care, to win the approval of men at the expense of God's holiness blah blah blah. I assure you that all of these criticisms were wrong, and I sincerely hope that you can read the book through and judge yourself. You wont be disappointed and you may even be moved into tears on some chapters. Below please find some copy and paste for your reference. Hope you like them.

Nowadays legalism has changed its focus. In a thoroughly secular culture, the church is more likely to show ungrace through a spirit of moral superiority or a fierce attitude toward opponents in the culture wars. The church also communicates ungrace through its lack of unity. Mark Twain used to say he put a dog and a cat in a cage together ...a bird, pig and goat. They, too, got along fine after a few adjustments. Then he put in a Baptist, Presbyterian, and Catholics; soon there was not a living thing left. Pg 33

In one of his last acts before death, Jesus forgave a thief dangling on a cross, knowing full well the theif had converted out of plain fear. That theif would never study the Bibile, never attend synagogue or church, and never make amends to all those he had wronged. He simply said "Jesus, remember me," and Jesus promised, "Today you will be with me in paradise." It was another reminder that grace does not depend on what we have done for God but rather what God has done for us. Pg 54

Paul, the chief of sinners, he once called himself - knew beyond doubt that God loves people because who God is, not because of who we are. Pg67

Jesus declared that we should have one distinguishing mark: not political correctness or moral superiority, but love. Paul added that without love nothing will do - no miracle of faith, no theological brilliance, no flaming personal sacrifice - will avail.

When asked what was totally unique to Christianity, the great C.S. Lewis once responded, "Oh, that's easy. It's grace."

But what exactly is grace? Read this book and find out. Mr. Yancey brilliantly explains grace in terms anyone can understand. This book opened my eyes, my heart, and made me weep for joy and for sorrow--for all of us who miss the greatest gift ever given to mankind.

Grace is a gift--can't be bought, won, or stolen. It is total goodness and love given to those who deserve it, not at all. To all who failed to understand the parable of the Prodigal Son--or sided with the older brother who had not left home to find ruin--this book illuminates the seed core of what it means to call yourself a Christian. But read it at your peril--you may find a truth about yourself, that you may not want to face.

I have a hard cover of this book--and fully intend to buy a case when it's published as a paperback, and give it to everyone I know!

The message of the Christian gospel tends to get drowned out by a message of un-conditional, universal love. Thus, this book is important, because it presents the un-conditional grace as the potent force in Jesus' preaching.

The book is deeply disturbing, challenging the way we tend to regard Christianity as the way of being perfect. Grace, given unconditionally, rocks the sense of justice among the "perfect", which is why I love this book. The book clearly points out the undertanding love is not sufficient but that the difficult term of "grace" is the only concept strong enough for a new start for hipocrite and murderer alike. Suggested reading for believers and non-believers alike.

In this book Yancey argues that it is the gift of God's grace that most clearly distinguishes Christianity from other religions. The author skilfully explores the significance of grace within the Christian faith and its significance for a world full of 'ungrace'. This is a very readable book, full of insight and wisdom, that is as suitable for Christians who want to discover more of God as it is for non-Christians who want to understand the underlying basis of Christianity. Be warned, however, the book changed my own view of self and my relationship with God.....it may change your's !

I just finished "What's so Amazing about Grace?" last night. I've contacted three people so far to suggest this book. As I've heard one minister say, "This may be the best book of the decade, if not the best in the last 50 years." For so long, as a christian, I have struggled with these issues of how little the "christian" community (including myself at times) as a whole demonstrates the Good News. I've have also struggled with calling myself "christian" for what it implies to so many people-- due to much of the "ungrace" demonstrated by many christians and churches. This book tells me I'm not crazing. EVERY christian should read this book, EVERY, especially those involved in church leadership! I believe Phillip Yancey challenges the "church", much like Jesus Christ challenged the people of his time to love, and love boldly. It's refreshing to know that people who may have been wounded by the church, just may be healed after reading this book-- quite possibly that may be everyone in some capacity. Upon finishing the book and wiping the tears from my eyes, all I could think was, "RIGHT ON! RIGHT ON,RIGHT ON! OUTSTANDING!!!"