John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace Overview
Most Christians know John Newton as a man who once captained a slave ship, was dramatically converted to Christ on the high seas, and later penned one of the greatest hymns of the faith, "Amazing Grace." But he also had a huge impact on his times as an icon of the evangelical movement, as a great preacher and theologian, and as a seminal influence on abolitionist William Wilberforce. Newton's friendship with Wilberforce is portrayed in the major motion picture Amazing Grace.
Jonathan Aitken's new biography John Newton explores all these facets of Newton's life and character. It is the first biography to draw on Newton's unpublished diaries and correspondence, providing fresh insight into the life of this complex and memorable Christian. The result is a fascinating, colorful, and historically significant portrait of John Newton, a self-described "great sinner" redeemed by a great Savior through amazing grace.
Customer Reviews
Biographies are good for the soul. There's nothing like sitting with a good biography, and know how to make a historical figure, a well-written description of a person's life and times.
John Newton: From disgrace to Amazing Grace (Crossway, 2007) is an excellent portrait of the life of John Newton (1725-1807) author Jonathan Aitken, tells the extraordinary story of a man who us the hymn "Amazing Grace." Here is a former captain of slave ships, was a loved one isPastor, homeopath productive and supporters of its abolition.
Aitken wisely spends much time in detail the voyages of John Newton before his conversion. He does not hesitate to describe the horrors of the slave trade. But in detail the evils of early life provides a much-needed background for a dramatic change in Newton on faith in the Gospel. Aitken's book is distinguished in painting a "before" and "after" pictures of extraordinary life of Newton.
Aitkendescribes the struggles of Newton, but does so in a way that makes his characters likeable. He shows how Newton tried to maintain a single devotion to Christ in the midst of his growing fame and popularity. The reader feels the passion Newton heart for the removal of his past by fighting injustice of slavery in his old age. The accounts of the use of William Wilberforce Newton are fascinating.
John Newton was indeed a great man. And there's much more to his life, as the hymn"Amazing Grace." But even if the life of Newton are not reduced to mere "homeopath" Aitken understands that "Amazing Grace", which is better known. It includes a chapter that shows how "Amazing Grace" began as a gothic anthem and became the world's most recognized Christian song.
The best part of John Newton is not the song or the biography, but the reality of amazing grace, in which both testify.
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