Significant anniversaries

Two significant anniversaries have fallen this week: on Tuesday it was 300 years since the birth of Charles Wesley and today is the 200th anniversary of John Newton’s death. How much poorer the Christian church worldwide would have been without these two men......

Amazing Newton

I'm looking forward to reading John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace, a new biography of John Newton (which I reserved at the library some time ago). So I was interested to read an interview with Jonathan Aitken, who wrote the biography, on the Christianity Today website. When asked to sum up Newton's legacy, Jonathan Aitken said:

"I seek to alert readers to how colorful, how historically important, how politically effective, and how deeply spiritual a man Newton was. He understood perfectly about getting hold of Wilberforce and mentoring him spiritually.

The story goes that Wilberforce came to see Newton to say, "Mr. Newton, I think I want to go into the church." Newton said, "No, no, Mr. Wilberforce, stay where you are and serve God in Parliament."

...

It's often said there would have been no abolition of the slave trade without William Wilberforce, but it's absolutely fair to say there would have been no spiritually motivated William Wilberforce as a determined campaigner if it hadn't been for the friendship and mentoring of John Newton."

Amazing Grace: the song

The hymn Amazing Grace first appeared in The Olney Hymns, published in 1779. The collection draws its name from the Buckinghamshire village of Olney, in England where John Newton was curate. The film’s UK website provides links to information about the hymn, including the story behind the hymn and the Biblical references contained in it.


The John Newton Project website provides a range of resources for the bicentenary of the death of John Newton (also 2007), and the Library of Congress offers an Amazing Grace timeline. .