Off the Shelf

John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace by Jonathan Aitken

Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How They Changed
America 1789-1989 by Michael Beschloss

From the February 2008 Philogian

Have you ever opened the pages of a biography and found yourself so immersed in the life of an individual that you could not put the book down?  Have you ever thought you knew a person’s life, but then came to discover that your perceptions were, at best, inadequate?  If I were to mention the name – John Newton – to you, what thoughts would immediately come to your mind?  Most of you would quickly answer, “He was the writer of the hymn Amazing Grace.”  Some of you might additionally state, “He was a slave-trader who became a preacher.”  Those answers mirrored mine before I read a most delightful newly published biography of John Newton, written by Jonathan Aitken (published in 2007 by Crossway Books). 

John Newton’s father was a ship’s captain and was frequently absent from his family for extended periods of time.  John’s mother was a devote Christian who prayed much for both her husband and her son.  His mother died when John was but seven years of age.  When John turned ten his father thought it was time for him to learn the ways of the sea.  And it was the sea that was to dominate his life for the next several decades. 

John was not a compliant seaman.  He was ambitious, self-centered, and could be rebellious at times.  It was during one of these times of rebellion that John found himself traded from one ship’s captain to another.  John now found himself a mate on a slave ship transporting slaves from Western Africa to the West Indies and the colonies of the New World.  In his eagerness to advance himself, John often found himself with men who lacked any fidelity.  In fact, on one occasion, John was himself enslaved, having been betrayed by the wife of a ship’s captain.  Thus John came to see slavery from both sides.

It was during a severe storm and thinking that he was going to die, John Newton rediscovered the God to whom he had been introduced as a young boy through his mother.  As the storm abated, John began an intense personal study of the Scriptures.  And, although he did not quit the slaving business, God began to work in his life where he began to see slaves as real people, not just a commodity to sell. 

What I found fascinating, and what the author develops as a central feature of his book, was the impact John Newton had as a preacher in England during the eighteenth century.  I read with fascination how God honed Newton’s skill in proclamation.  How he persevered when it seemed that the Church of England would not ordain him to ministry.  And inter-woven throughout is that wonderful romance between John and his bride Polly.  God certainly brought some interesting people into their lives, among them were William Cowper (the crazy preacher, song-writer with whom Newton collaborated in writing the first English hymnal) and William Wilberforce (a young boy whom John and Polly almost adopted as their own). 

In the closing years of his life, John Newton was mightily used of God to help to destroy the very industry that had given him life those many years.  It was through his writings and preaching, as well as through the political guidance of Wilberforce, that slavery was abolished from the British Empire. 

I heartily recommend Jonathan Aitken’s wonderful biography, John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace.  I don’t believe you will sing Amazing Grace the same way after reading this amazing story.

Briefly I would like to also recommend a second book for your consideration.  The book is entitled, Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How They Changed America 1789-1989 (Simon and Schuster, 2007).  The author is Michael Beschloss, whom Newsweek magazine describes as “the nation’s leading Presidential historian.”  This was my first exposure to this author but, after reading this book, I am eager to read others he has written. 

I guess what attracted me to this book was its title.  How often today do we see our nation’s leaders really leading?  Opinion polling seems to have replaced personal instincts.  What would happen if we had leaders who had the courage to “be like a fish swimming upstream?” 

The author takes us into the lives of nine of our nation’s greatest leaders and shares with us those moments in their lives when they dared to stand against forces that might have pulled them in opposite directions.  Those seven leaders are: George Washington, John Adams, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan.  At times a leader must do the right thing even though it might not be the most popular thing.  The decisions these nine great Americans made can be an encouragement to us. 

As the winter winds continue to howl and as the snow piles grow in size, throw another log into the fireplace, steam a cup of tea or chocolate, and curl up with a good book.  You will grow your mind and encourage your heart.  Happy Reading!

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