The Script for Self-Hatred (Manning, Ch. 1)

Manning offers a refreshing response to Yaconelli's "Reckless Grace" when, quoting Lewis Smedes, he writes, "This is healthy shame, and we are closest to health when we let ourselves feel the pain of it ["failing," sinning] and be led by the pain to do something about it" (p. 18).
Just as those in AA welcome other alcoholics into their groups, with "empathy, compassion, and unconditional acceptance, " so too believers must demonstrate "the unflinching love of the Abba Jesus, who cannot despise" (p.16). Further, "AA invites me to confess my weakness [as a "failer"] at the very moment I am turning away from it" (p. 16). This active repentance, this "turning away," is what Yaconelli overlooked and, thereby, downplayed.
I also appreciated Manning's question: "Does the neutral onlooker [especially postmoderns] identify a Christian by his pious practices and cultic regularity ['ritual and cult'] or by the loving quality of his everyday presence in the workaday world ['personal commitment and the sacrifice of one's life,' Doherty]" (p. 12). Neither perfectionism, moralism, nor legalism - which Manning derides - will develop such a loving presence.