I have very much appreciated the books I have read by Brennan Manning. I started acquiring his works after one of my sons sent me his best-known book, now a classic, ‘The Ragamuffin Gospel’, about fifteen years ago. Manning was a Catholic priest and a popular speaker, but his life was plagued by feelings of insecurity, and increased alcohol dependency.
I knew parts of his history, as mentioned in others of his books which I’ve acquired over the years; he was a fascinating person, very honest about his failings, relying so much on the grace of God. So when I discovered that he had written an autobiography - or a memoir, anyway - entitled ‘All is Grace’, I put it on my wishlist, and was delighted to be given it for Christmas.
There’s a prologue by Philip Yancey. He’s another excellent Christian writer from the United States, but there, superficially, the resemblance ends. Yancey grew up in a fundamentalist Protestant church, and writes for broadly evangelical audiences. I was pleased to discover that Yancey had a tremendous regard and admiration for Brennan Manning.
The style of the autobiography, subtitled, 'A Ragamuffin Memoir', is straightforward, acknowledging the author’s many faults. He tries to be as fair as possible to his parents, too. Clearly they made many mistakes in his upbringing, but he accepts, in hindsight, that they may have been under great strain, and that part of his negative reactions were a result of his own personality.
He is warm in remembrance of his grandmother, who offered him unconditional love and encouragement. But he also explains that his mother, trained as a nurse, was taught that children needed discipline, rigidity and minimal affection. He was clearly a child who needed love, who wanted friends who liked him for who he was. He recalls one such friend who made a tremendous difference in his childhood.
It’s a heart-wrenching story, yet told without excess of emotion and without allocating blame. It states the facts - not baldly, but written in the context of family life and day-to-day experiences, yet the people come to life so strongly that I feel a tinge of regret that the author never (as far as I know) published any fiction.
When he became a priest, Manning felt as if perhaps, at last, his parents would approve of him. But even in his early years he struggled with some aspects of priesthood, finding more spirituality and contentment in physical labour than in his ministry.
He recounts how he left the priesthood to be married, after falling in love. But he didn’t really know how to be married, as he puts it in this book, and the marriage sadly ended in divorce. Again, he is entirely open and honest about his failings and regrets, as well as touching on the happier aspects of his married life.
The writing, as I expect with this author, is excellent even though he was quite elderly by the time this was published. He had help from his close friend and editor; a picture is drawn of him ending his days dependent on help even to get dressed every day, receiving the kind of care and affection that he had longed for as a child.
Although Brennan Manning says little about his successes, it’s clear that he had a positive effect on many, in his speaking and writing, and also in his friendships. At the end of the book there are some letters written by some of his closest friends - a group who met yearly, at his instigation, calling themselves the ‘Notorious Sinners’.
All in all, I would recommend this very highly to anyone wanting to know more about this extraordinary man, or indeed anyone who likes reading memoirs of ordinary, fallible people whose lives are drenched in the grace of God.
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