Although the book is 20 years old, it is timeless in its core notion that the worlds of “grace” and “ungrace” are distinct. Grace is an unconditional gift from God and is LIKE God in its characteristics — while not condoning sin, still allowing for forgiveness for individuals and opening the way for restitution between and among people. “Ungrace” is natural — we do ungrace all the time — striving to harm another person; coveting what we see that someone else has in competitive ways, not constructive ways that would encourage us to improve our skills or ourselves; or indulging in gossip, selfishness, and unwillingness to forgive.
Even so-called “Christian colleges” or churches may have a persistent environment of “ungrace” and narrowly, anxiously judgmental attitudes. People who go there in hopes of receiving something qualitatively different from what the world offers may be disappointed. The world offers “mere justice”; sometimes churches offer similar doses of ungrace to the suffering.
Yancey uses approachable, moving stories to open each of his sections. We read of a prostitute and child abuser who would not go to church because she knew the people there would only make her feel WORSE than she already felt. Yancey tells us of a cook who poured out lavish sacrificial abundance to a pinched and narrow-minded community (Babette’s Feast). He recounts how “ungrace” can be passed down from generation to generation in families or in/among nations if someone is not willing to note that, although grace IS “unfair”, it is better than “fair.” It is the only way to restitution. He reminds us that are all loved by God no matter how unacceptable our attitudes and behavior are so we need to yield to grace and be transformed. Yancey warns us that the most judgmental among us are in grave danger of dwelling in darkness and doing that which most contradicts the principles we SAY we believe.
Yancey says grace may seem to dissipate and be “engulfed by the black hole of ungrace” that operates in our fallen world, but grace gives life and ungrace gives pain and death.
Although we people on earth know that we need love and peace, we don’t always agree that “grace” is the way to actualize/ operationalize love and peace. God gives grace; pray for it and be humbly willing to receive it. Then use it!
As a “struggling writer” (there is no other kind), I was encouraged to see that Yancey has amassed a large bank of great quotes from others. Some percentage of his writing is using and engaging these quotes in new ways that shine light on his particular focus. I have “good quotes” jotted down here, there, and everywhere but I will do better in organizing, categorizing and retrieving them for use. As an academic writer, I am really stressed when having to provide precise and accurate citations for everything — surely using a quote and naming the author will not be as hard as citations in academic and science writing!
Keep the book — re-read once or twice on your journey to understanding how grace, forgiveness, and restitution work on an individual and intercultural/international level. “Grace” is unfair — thank God it is! Who could have it if it were based on our virtue!
Yancey, P. (1997). What’s so amazing about grace? Grand Rapids, MI:Zondervan.
As a college student in the turbulent late 1960s and early 1970s, J.B Phillips’s book, “Your God is Too Small” helped me.
Susan Olmstead Wang 