Book Review: All Is Grace
September 22, 2011 | 
Author Book Review: All Is Grace
By: Brennan Manning ISBN: 9781434764188
Publisher: David C. Cook
All is Grace… and indeed it is.
I’ve read works from and listened to talks of Brennan Manning for quite a few years now. I’ve never heard this much of his “early” story as is shared in this memoir. I knew from his personal testimony there had been difficult and challenging points in his life, but I never realized to what degree he had been haunted by the early years of his childhood. This is an amazing story of God’s grace, faithfulness, forgiveness, and fulfillment. I was engrossed in the story from the moment I opened the cover. I literally could not put the book down and read it almost cover to cover on a four hour flight
One of the points of the book that “hooked” me so solidly came early in the story (chapter three; pg.50) when Brennan talks about an “imposter self” that was born in him at the age of eight. There are others I have read, M. Basil Pennington and Thomas Keating are a couple, who talk about this insidious monster of the “false self” that affects so much of who we become as we live out our lives attempting to live in to and become these “wrong” identities. It is from this perspective the rest of the book unfolds. I found this heart-wrenching.
At the other end of the spectrum was God’s unfailing grace and holy providence. In the midst of self-consuming destructive behavior, God’s relentless love for Brennan and the wonder of God’s work through Brennan’s life shines through over and over. In the midst of so much heartbreak in this book there remains the light of hope that is never, ever extinguished.
In the end, we find what God does best as the culmination this story, or so it seems to me. I loved this quote of Manning that seemed a fitting summary and realization for so many of us. He writes; “God strips away those falsehoods (false identities) because it is better to live naked in truth than clothed in fantasy” (pg.182). I spent much of my time reading this book pushing away tears between breaks of enormous smiles of grace. I think you will find yourself with a similar experience.
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[...] All Is Grace [...]
I read All is Grace the morning it was released on my Nook. I’ve been reading Brennan for many years and have always deeply identified with his work. I met Brennan is 2002 at a retreat in Queens. After the evening session we attended a reception with only a handful of people. Brennan prayed for my wife and I and it was a wonderful time. I felt a depth of heart from him but also a brokenness that seemed fresh. Now I know why.
Brennan’s failure to stay sober is in itself a sobering lesson. As an ordained man in recovery myself I saw my future in Brennan. I say ‘in recovery’ and by that I mean that at times I have been sober for a season but continuously fell back. I regularly do the work of recovery and even deliver profound and spirit-filled teaching on the process, but like Brennan the reality eludes me. Freud noted that it seemed the Irish were impervious to psychoanalysis. As a fellow Irish-American I have been haunted by my inability to benefit greatly from counseling, rehab and therapy.
I see Brennan pressing into that same journey but ultimately isolated and alone, managing the contact that others have with him. Keeping a controlled and safe distance from those who could harm him, he accepts the pedestal that the Evangelical church offered him as it enabled him to slowly ruin himself. While I appreciate the camaraderie that was experienced by the Notorious Sinners, it seems that if I were a member I might have a greater moment of pause if a brother were so trapped in ruinous sin and addiction and our fellowship did not bring about healing and freedom.
In recovery I have learned that ultimately the addiction has less to do with the cause that initiated the need to medicate. The solution became the problem. The addiction itself is enemy. While I need to face the pain that I’ve avoided and find healing, staying sober is simply the hard work, the team work of the process that I have to humble myself and accept. I have to trust another to know what the next right thing to do is. I cannot do this myself. My inability to be vulnerable and intimate is the greatest hindrance to my recovery. As I trust others and find them to be frail and human I withdraw again. Simply put, I never let me down but THEY do. Of course I’m deceived. My only hope is to see myself as failing and try to be vulnerable again. Brennan’s story is a cold slap in the face, a stark message that the path I’ve chosen leads to my slow collapse.
Perhaps a collapse others will find instructive as a picture of grace.
Brennan is still my hero. He tells the honest truth, even the truth that he manages what he tells. Father Brennan, you have helped me once again. Your book is a visit to the confessional. I listened my dear friend and from your story I have more light on my crooked path. Bless you.
Thank you for sharing and thank you for the transparency of your own journey. May God’s hand continue to guide, comfort, and strengthen you as you continue to grow in His marvelous grace.