What's So Amazing About Grace?

by Philip Yancey

I had enormously high expectations for this book, having recently read Yancey's The Jesus I Never Knew and absolutely loving it, but this one just wasn't up to par. The fact that I finished it says that What's So Amazing About Grace? isn't bad; it's just not as good as I'd hoped it would be.

Yancey begins by stating that he has no "desire to dissect grace and display its innards," and that as a result he "will rely more on stories than on syllogisms." I really liked the first part of that, but somehow missed the "stories" part, because that is what the book is mostly comprised of, and it caught me off-guard.

The stories and topics covered range from homosexuality to the holocaust, and everything in-between. Honestly, I got bored sometimes. World War II is not exactly my favorite thing to read about.

However, Yancey did get through to me in some respect, as I began to notice the theme of grace everywhere. I saw it in my daily devotions, in other books, at church. I would be reading (or listening) along, and suddenly my subconscious would pipe up and say, hey, that's just like what Yancey was saying about grace!

3/5 leaves