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John_C said:
Joe,

I have never heard of the book. What's it about?
Brennan Manning, a recovering alcoholic, is the author. The Ragamuffin Gospel is endorsed by Michael W. Smith, Rich Mullins ([/i]A Liturgy, A Legacy, & A Ragamuffin Band[/i]), Max Lucado, Eugene Peterson and Philip Yancy. Besides attempting to harmonize the Bible with/to Zen philosophy and other humanistic writings, he positively quotes new age leaders as Joseph Campbell, Francis MacNutt, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and humanist Carl Jung. He confuses “loving sinners” with “accepting their sin” (p. 33) and believes that forgiveness precedes repentance (pp. 74, 167, 181). He sees God as loving and forgiving but never a judge or disciplinarian (p. 75). Here is Christianity Today’s take on it: Ragamuffin

Here are some quotes (The Ragamuffin Gospel, forward by Michael W. Smith , published by Multnomah Press):

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Manning cites Matthew Fox (heretic),

Remember that 15 billion years of the universe loved you and brought you forward. And it loved you unconditionally...We were loved before the beginning...God is a great underground river, and there are many wells into that river. There's a Taoist well, a Buddhist well, a Jewish well, a Muslim well, a Christian well, a Goddess well, the Native wells-many wells that humans have dug to get into that river, but friends, there's only one river; the living waters of wisdom ….. He has a single, relentless stance toward us: he loves us. He is the only God man has ever heard of who loves sinners. False gods-the gods of human understanding-despise sinners, but the Father of Jesus loves all, no matter what they do. But of course this is almost too incredible for us to accept. Nevertheless, the central affirmation of the Reformation stands: through no merit of ours, but by his mercy, we have been restored to a right relationship with God through the life, death, and resurrection of his beloved Son. This is the Good News, the gospel of Grace (p. 18).

Speaking of the mark of the beast;

And he [Christ] will say to us: ‘Vile beings, you who are in the image of the beast and bear his mark, but come all the same, you as well’ (p. 21).

To evangelize a person is to say to him or her: you, too, are loved by God in the Lord Jesus (p. 120).

God is a kooky God who can scarcely bear to be without us (p. 165).

The first step toward rejuvenation begins with accepting where you are and exposing your poverty, frailty, and emptiness to the love that is everything. Don’t try to feel anything, think anything, or do anything... Don’t force prayer. Simply relax in the presence of the God you half believe in and ask for a touch of folly (p. 196).
In The Signature of Jesus, Manning teaches his readers how to pray, using an 8 word mantra. He says, "the first step in faith is to stop thinking about God at the time of prayer" (p. 212). The second step is "without moving your lips, repeat the sacred word [or phrase] inwardly, slowly, and often." If distractions come, "simply return to listening to your sacred word" (p. 218). He also cheers his readers to "celebrate the darkness" because "the ego has to break; and this breaking is like entering into a great darkness" (p. 145).

Reformed and Always Reforming,