A Review
by Darold H. Morgan
What`s So Amazing About Grace?
Philip Yancey
Philip Yancey has come to the foreground of any list of authors I whose writings are essential for thinking Christians today. Here is a volume which moves boldly into the area of biblical ethics related to the grace of God. Yancey`s writings are well-known, and justifiably so, with titles like "Where Is God When It Hurt?" and "The Jesus I Never Knew." Run, don`t walk, to the nearest bookstore for his latest offering with its catchy but not irreverent title, "What`s So Amazing About Grace."
It is must reading if you as a Christian are interested at all in a fresh, scintillating, scriptural approach to grace as God`s ultimate gift of undeserved forgiveness. He applies his insights retroactively to his own rearing in a deep-South racist area. He moves on to the contemporary scene where the extremes of political involvement by the Religious Right in America are glaringly apparent. Applying the grace of God to this controversy will raise the hackles of many as he concludes that "perhaps the reason politics has proved such a snare for the church is that power rarely coexists with love" (p. 263). He moves on into dark and swiftly moving waters of controversy by dealing with personal relationships and with issues engendered by the homosexual conflicts of the day. He always moves toward the firm applications of the grace of God in these issues. One may not agree with his approach, but you will read his lines with genuine appreciation for his insights.
This volume is brimming with powerful stories which the author deftly uses to enhance his primary premise: "The Gospel of grace begins and ends with forgiveness. God alone meets ungrace." He coins this concept of "ungrace" to point out the necessity of God`s grace encountering and ultimately triumphing over these heart wrenching problems. His account of Bill Moyers and Jesse Norman in the famed documentary, "Amazing Grace," is by itself worth the price of the book. Add to that his treatment of the startling pilgrimage of Will Campbell, and you have an increased appreciation for the genuine worth of this book. His solemn use of Simon Wiesenthal`s, "The Sunflower," one of the most powerful things ever written about the Holocaust, stretches our minds as to how far grace can go in its demands for forgiveness.
Add to these accounts quotations from a variety of writers like Lewis Smedes, C.S. Lewis, Frederick Buechner, Paul Tournier, Leo Tolstoy, W.H. Auden, Helmut Thielicke, Robert Bellah, Ralph Reed, Karl Barth, and you are reminded that Yancey`s reading is omnivorous and eclectic.
His retelling in a modern setting of some of Jesus` most graphic parables is another highlight of the book. He is aware of the interesting fact that Jesus never used the word "grace" in his teaching ministry. Yet reading through this contemporary commentary of these parables, one is struck by the concept of grace from a new perspective. Rather than come to a theological definition of grace, Yancey illustrates both the presence and absence of grace in sacred and secular spheres. The intense Fundamentalism of some Evangelicals today comes off bad because there seems to be so little grace being shown in those relationships. His understated conclusion merits attention: The world does not automatically associate the word `grace` with evangelical Christianity."
A major appeal is evident throughout the book. It is imperative for all Christians to show more of God`s Amazing Grace. Grace is particularly needed, Yancey says, in the political realm. Though much "ungrace" has shown up on all sides of the spectrum, it is essential for Christians to be grace-full. Yancey pleads for grace to be a reality in all of life`s dynamic encounters. Neither side nor camp nor party in these confrontations of the day is entirely free from intolerance or prejudice, yet he repeatedly returns to the strong and steady undertow of grace as a key for resolving these issues. Significantly, he weaves a commitment to the historic and powerful church-state separation concepts as he discusses the current state of affairs in American politics. Although this may be somewhat surprising in this setting, it is genuinely refreshing.
Much of his book deals with what the author calls "a shortage of grace within the church." Despite his appropriate use of reality, the book moves along with positive challenges to correct this grievous shortcoming. The biblical concept of grace, Yancey sees, is the antidote, grace which results in forgiveness. "The only remedy for the inevitability of history is forgiveness; otherwise we remain trapped in the predicament of irreversibility."
We may not agree with all the conclusions Yancey reaches but we can all be helped by this well-written volume with its timely illustrations, powerful quotations, and fresh insights about the grace of God. After reading this book, you will find a deeper level of joy when you sing the wonderful words of "Amazing Grace."
