I have very much liked and appreciated the books by Brennan Manning, after my son introduced me to one of his books sixteen years ago. I have acquired several more of them and re-read some, but I had not read ‘The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus’ since 2007.
I read a chapter at a time - sometimes less, and on many days I didn’t read any at all, too caught up with other things. In fact I'm shocked to find that it took me over three months to read this book! When I did read, I found the writing excellent, the anecdotes interesting, and the overall message both challenging and immensely encouraging.
Manning, a former Catholic priest, writes about being overwhelmed by God’s love. Not just knowing it mentally, or appreciating it in a general way, but living our lives in full awareness. This leads not to wild actions or constant sinning, but tremendous humility - and the ability to get up and move on from things we do wrong, rather than wallowing in guilt.
The book is set out as a kind of study guide, and a brief prologue recommends reading each chapter slowly, maybe more than once, and then discussing a few pertinent questions with like-minded people who have also read it. There are fourteen chapters; it could be done in a weekly home group over three months or so, and I think would work well.
However I read it by myself, and not always as slowly as might have been recommended. There are three main sections: Experiencing Jesus, Jesus at Easter, and Jesus at Christmas. My gaps in reading meant that I read the last section during Advent, which was a good time to read them.
As with any book of this nature, I appreciated very much what was written, but recall very little of it after the event. However what I do recall is the awareness of God’s ‘relentless tenderness’, as the author puts it in one of the chapters. God is both Lion and Lam: he pursues us without letting us go, and loves us unconditionally.
It’s a book I should probably re-read every couple of years.
Very highly recommended to all believers or those who would like to know more about God’s love.
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