Customer Reviews

The Wisdom of Tenderness: What Happens When God's Fierce Mercy Transforms Our Lives

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Manning sometimes gets criticized as a "one trick pony". He is indeed a one-trick pony. I don't say it as a criticism, though, because his message is so consistently powerful. MANNING CONTINUES TO FIND KNEW PERSPECTIVES ON THE MIGHTY GRACE OF GOD TOWARD IMPOVERISHED PEOPLE. What could get old about that?

Manning has two core messages: 1) We are depraved people in need of rescue, and 2) God's grace is relentless in delivering that rescue. Since he first wrote "Ragamuffin Gospel", he has continued to explore these two themes from different angles. "Ruthless Trust" focused on the nature of true trust and our need to trust God. "The Signature of Jesus" focuses on what true discipleship looks like, the stamp of this loving God on the ragamuffin soul.

"The Wisdom of Tenderness" focuses on our need to "let go and let God", as John Wimber used to say. It is about living a life of letting God minister his love to us. The chapter titled "Fierce Mercy" is worth the price of the book alone. By the end of this chapter, when Manning wrote, "We're so poor that not even our poverty is our own," I felt as if I had *finally* grasped Manning's message (with my heart) to quit trying to earn God's grace and just let him give it to me.

I'm wired such that I'm trying to earn God's approval even when I think I'm not. Manning's message is such a breath of fresh air in our performance-based society. And its repetition in his various writings is a critical reminder of its importance. If we would be free, we must breathe this message frequently.

Brennan Manning writes: "Instead of a light volley of divine love followed by the heavy artillery of rule-keeping, Jesus' love for the unlovely must pierce the heart of every Christian."

In the "The Wisdom of Tenderness" Brennan Manning once again discusses the unfathomable love of God. By discussing the tender, pursuing love of Jesus, as well as the fierce mercy of our Abba, Manning seeks to point the way to how we should live as God's people in the twenty-first century.

Manning begins by giving the lie to the all too common, overly optimistic self-evaluation modern Christians have been giving themselves. In an era where many live by legalism instead of grace and love, it has become too easy to skew the holy "stat sheet" by moving the goal posts into a more favorable position.

Manning's main argument is that the Church at large has become so self-involved and inward, that we squabble while the world around us spiritually starves to death:

"When the primacy of love is subordinated to doctrinal correctness and orthodox exegesis, cool cordiality and polite indifference masquerade as love among theologians, biblical scholars, and faculties across the land. When absolute control and rigid obedience pose as love within the family and the local faith-community, we produce trained cowards rather than Christian persons."

What Manning suggests as solution to the horrid state of things is a return to Christians living as a people of tenderness. The example and presence of Jesus and his loving Abba are to be a model and motivation for believers:

"Because of the mysterious substitution of Christ for the Christian, each encounter with a brother or sister is a real encounter with the risen Lord, an opportunity to respond creatively to the gospel and mature in the wisdom of tenderness."

As usual, Manning's writing is top notch. He is a very talented author. More importantly, Brennan has fearlessly laid bare his soul in parts of this book. Others will no doubt find great healing and motivation in this book as a result. I know I did.

I give "The Wisdom of Tenderness" my highest recommendation.

Passionately written, the words are aflame across the page.
His most searing and thought-provoking work to date.
Succinct statements that hits straight to the jugular and forces a reaction from the heart.

Yet, written and expressed with tenderness, compassion, not mawkishness, not soft love.

An unusual call upward to God.
An unusual revelation of what our God really is like.
A book to be read, pondered, meditated upon, reflected, and absorbed deeply.

It is a book for those who have been overfed with "Hollywood" Christianism and are now bloated with its false claims and retarded images of God and Jesus Christ.

It is a book that will warm your heart and draw you back to the flame of which you once were touched by, that of God's fiery and awesome love for you.

It is a book that will transform hearts that are ready and open for its message.

Brennan Manning fearlessly drives the stake into heartless religion, exposing its fraud and emptiness behind all its glitzy claims and glittering candy-trash.

This is a book written with courage.
A timely message for our generation.
It is not a "how-to" book emphasizing steps you have to take to experience change, but a book, that by exposing one's soul to its message without reserve, will cause a transformation.

It will shake your beliefs about a God you thought you knew.
It will rebuild a foundation of what God's love is like for you.
It will restoke, rekindle, and rebirth a fiery love for Jesus Christ.

It is not a message of Christianism and all its laws.
It is finally a message of Jesus Christ, Him and Him alone.

A must read...for all,
especially Christians.

I am a rabid Manning fan. Unfortunately, his latest book does not quite measure up to his previous greats, such as The Ragamuffin Gospel and Ruthless Trust. In this book, the reader can feel the frustration and sorrow of Brennan Manning. Manning's convoluted critique of religion, christians, church and America borders on a tirade. Fortunately, such ramblings do not denigrate the wonderful message of a life of tenderness, gratitude, and mercy also found in the book.

The book teaches us that our lives as ragamuffins are transformed when we receive the infinite tenderness of Jesus, and give that same tenderness to others. Open your heart. Experience warm, caring and affectionate relationships. Your heart will grow tender. You will learn to live in the wisdom of accepted tenderness -- letting go of your cares and concerns and living each moment in awareness of the tender, loving and merciful God. Enjoy God's gift to the fullest. Read this book. Focus on its message of warmth and compassion.

Brennan Manning at his best: tenderly revealing the loving parental role that God is. The freedom Manning suggest from setting one's sail into parental grace, mercy, and love from God dispells the often lack of these qualities shaped by an increasingly dysfunctional family. Even the hard liner, "don't confuse me with the facts, my mind's made up" can see the radical transformation of one's life. Manning cuts across denominational, and non-denominational, dogma that is summed up in his restated theme from Luke 3:21-22, "You are my Son, the Beloved; my favor rests on you", and that we are adopted Sons into the family of God. I like Manning's one-liners through out his writing; among the best: "infinite tenderness limits rational finite thinking". Be prepared to live in trust, transparency, and compassion once you've bathed in this spiritual message.

Brennan Manning's newest book, The Wisdom of Tenderness, is every bit the equal of The Ragamuffin Gospel.

Manning gently and compassionately takes those of us whose heads are bowed in shame, puts his hands on our chin, and turns our gaze upward to the Abba (Hebrew word roughly equivalent to "Daddy") who loves us with tenderness that goes far beyond the tenderness of the best human fathers. If, like me, your human father was anything but tender towards you, please don't let that dissuade you from accepting the image. Just imagine the best Daddy of your dreams, the one whose arms you could get lost in, the one who would hold you for hours while you cried, the one who understands you fully and loves you anyway......

Guess what? You have that Daddy. His name is Abba, and He doesn't just love you -- He LIKES you, regardless of what you've done or failed to do, regardless of your frailties, errors, and mistakes. You have that Daddy's love forevermore. Read this book and allow Brennan Manning to introduce you to him.

This book forever changed my life. I had reached a point where I figured I had passed the point of no return as far as whether God could love me or not. Mistake after mistake...being judged, made to feel inferior by so called "Christians"...you name it. This book will reveal a God who created us for Him to love...and there is no longer any doubt in my mind that I am loved...and that I have a responsibility now to pass that love on to others. I trust Him completely...know He would never leave nor forsake me...and hope plain and simple that others will see Him in me. Brennan Manning revealed a God I could not see through my tears and frustration. And I'll be forever changed...and forever grateful.

Wonderful Book!
Anyone seeking a closer relationship with Christ, a must read.
It helps to have an above average vocabulary to read his books.
But even if you don't, like me, you will still find him insightfull.
G.W.

I have read most of Brennan's works, and even studied one in a small group setting. For me, he even went a step higher with this work. It really touched my heart and gave me good tools to live by, without being some kind of self help book. It is as if he takes principles that we may know, and puts fresh perspective on them. I have read it twice in the last few years and am beginning to read it for a third time. In today's world of dog eat dog, Brennan writes this book with such a poetic style of grace and dignity. For those even thinking about reading this book, please do. You will be refreshed as possibly you have not in some time. For me, this is a book that makes one kind of read slowly, pondering what was just read. And, for men out there, as myself, thinking this might be kind of a mushy book, it is not. There are even some surprizes in the book, including a reference to a movie (men like). It is a book for a man's man, as well as all the ladies. It is a book you will somehow want to keep close at hand, just to look back now and then for a reference, that you can not seem to forget, and want to read again and again. It seems to have almost the feel of a reference book, since I have looked back to now and then to reread certain passages. I really do keep it close at hand, even at work. A good friend of mine that works for the publisher of this book says, Brennan not only talks the talk, but really walks the walk.

I am partial. Every word Brennan writes speaks to me. He is a blessing of GRACE in my life. I have read most of his books and each one delivers the message that God loves me regardless of what I've done!