Well, I'm going to get myself in some hot water here, but I enjoyed Abba's Child by Brennan Manning. I have not read Ragamuffin Gospel. Now, before you start burning up they keys on your keyboard with a retort, let me clearly state that I DON'T read such literature for theological insights. For understanding of salvation, justification, redemption, atonement, the character of God or any other theological proposition, I'm going to look to a Reformed writer who is a theologian. But I read Brennan Manning with the same filter in place that I would use when reading John Eldredge, Larry Crabb, William Backus or a host of other "Christian psychologist" writers. I am not seeking knowledge of God or his attributes but rather self-knowledge. (Yes, this can become sin when self becomes the focus instead of Jesus Christ. I am aware of this and guard against it.) Tim Challies criticized Eldredge's book Wild at Heart on theological grounds and I would fully agree that he is no theologian. (Perhaps somewhat more orthodox than Brennan Manning, however.) Still, I find understanding into human emotions and motives with such authors. What Manning says about the "false self" in Abba's Child really struck a chord with me. And Wild at Heart helped me understand some of my fear of masculinity and how it's OK to take risks. Could I have learned this elsewhere? Probably.

And yes, I'm going to exercise some discernment. I don't read the fruitcakes like Joyce Meyers, T.D. Jakes or Joel Osteen's Your Best Life Now. Not because I'm afraid I'll be led astray but rather because I only have so much time and I don't think they're saying anything new.

And secondly, I'm not preaching these ideas from the pulpit and would disagree with any minister of the gospel who does so. (FYI I am not a preacher.)

Someone will ask, "With so much good Reformed and Puritan literature out there, why do you waste your time reading this fluff?" And in fact I spend less and time with the mainline evangelical authors and more time reading the deeper works.

Undiscerning and uneducated readers are susceptibe to error, or those who sit under the authority of a pastor who follows the latest fad whether it's Brennan Manning, John Eldredge, Promise Keepers, 40 Days of Purpose, Sonship or whatever. If these ideas become the topic of Sunday's sermon, you might start looking elsewhere for spiritual nourishment. That said, I'm not going to dismiss Manning out of hand. Test all things; hold fast to what is good.