What's So Amazing About Grace? Study Guide (Paperback)

by Phillip Yancey (Author) "As a writer, I play with words all day long..." (more)
Key Phrases: dispensing grace, break into groups, share with the group, Song of Grace, Background Music of Grace This Week, The Music of Grace (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Author Philip Yancey combines his talents with Brenda Quinn’s to produce a study guide for his Gold Medallion Award-winning and bestselling book, What's So Amazing About Grace?.

From the Publisher
Award-winning author Philip Yancey has a way of toppling convention and getting at the truth. In What's So Amazing About Grace?, he turns his gift for inquiry to that most basic of all Christian tenets--grace. Grace is the church's great gift to the world, says Yancey. But do Christians really understand grace--and if we do, then why do we experience and show so little of it? Yancey sets grace in the midst of life's stark, often brutal realities to help readers discover the power of God's unrelenting love for sinners. This study guide will help readers apply the discoveries and challenges contained in Yancey's newest and most personal book.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Zondervan; Stg edition (March 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0310219043
• ISBN-13: 978-0310219040
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #46,521 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book changed my life, December 14, 2000

By	K. West (Little Rock, AR USA) - See all my reviews

This book really did change my life by forcing me to look at the world around me and how I react to it as a Christian. Since reading this book, I have felt personally challenged to convey God's grace to others, particularly those that are "different" from myself. I think this is the best Christian book out right now and I have already given it as a gift to several friends and family members. If you are a Christian and have become discouraged by the negative reaction to Christians by non-Christians, read this book and help me start to change those stereotypes.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wish I had read this book twenty years ago, April 24, 1998

By	[e-mail] (Hamilton NJ) - See all my reviews

Why is it, Yancey asks, that those who are loudest in preaching the gospel of grace exhibit so little grace in their own lives? Christians are called to be like their Lord, who came not "to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance," but today's churches often act more like the Pharisees whom Jesus rebuked so severely. Yancey does not attempt to explain or excuse such unChristlike behavior, but rather invites us to join him in receiving God's amazing grace. Grace, Yancey tells us, means that "there is nothing we can do to make God love us more." Yet at the same time "there is nothing we can do to make God love us less." Yancey explores the implications of these statements not with theological discussions, but in stories. He finds examples of grace in literary works such as Les Miserables and Babette's Feast, as well as in countless anecdotes from a variety of sources, including his own experience. Jesus' own parables, so familiar to those of us with a church background, are suddenly alive with provocative meanings, bursting with hope, challenging what we thought we knew Jesus was saying. I have heard sermons and read books on the topic of grace, but never has it come so vividly to life as in the stories that Yancey weaves into every page of this book. I wish I had read this book twenty years ago, although at the time I might not have been ready to hear God's message of grace spoken through Philip Yancey. Like Yancey, I spent years in churches that preached grace but practiced legalism, even while they decried the legalistic tendencies in others. Many people observe this deplorable lack of grace among evangelical Christians, and conclude that it is Christianity that is defective. Yancey affirms the message of grace and hope central to Christianity, while sadly acknowledging the failure of Christians to follow the example of grace-full living of their Lord. This is not a book to read quickly. It is easy reading as far as the reading goes, but it asks hard questions and Yancey does not pretend to have all the answers. Christians talk about forgiveness, but does forgiveness extend to a murderer like Jeffrey Dahmer? To the Nazis who massacred Jews in the concentration camps? What does grace mean for those living in Bosnia or Northern Ireland or South Africa ... or in the United States? Each story Yancey tells is a nugget of grace, revealing the darkness hidden within us, and the brighter light of the Gospel that alone can dispel the darkness.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Here's What's Amazing about Grace, May 2, 2000

By	Pamela B. Garrud "seeker963" (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

How can I add anything to all the rave reviews of this book? Why does everyone love it so much? Two reasons: the fact of God's grace and the fact that Yancey conveys that grace in a well-written book that is moving and touching. Yancey -- praise the Lord! -- is one conservative Christian who understands that Christianity is about God's love and forgiveness and not about a wrathful, rule-enforcing God who forgives grudgingly. And Yancey has a way of conveying this message with art and feeling. I have already bought multiple copies of this book to give to friends. I consider it a must-read for anyone looking for God's love.