Week 11: Chapter 10 — A Touch of Folly

1.Read 1 Corinthians 1:18-25. Paul calls the cross 'foolishness to those who are perishing.' What is it about the gospel of grace — specifically its unconditional, unearned character — that strikes the world (and many religious people) as foolish or offensive?

2.Manning embraces the 'folly' of grace as its most essential feature — a love that doesn't make sense by any human calculation. Have you ever done something that looked foolish by the world's standards because of your trust in grace? What happened?

3.In his epilogue, 'The Scandal of Grace, Ten Years Later,' Manning reflects on how his understanding of grace had deepened — and in some ways become more scandalous — over the decade since he first wrote the book. What does it tell us that even the author continued to be surprised by grace? What does it suggest about how we should approach our own growth in this area?