Customer Reviews
Solid and Commendable - By: Stephen Booth, 09 Dec 2008 
John Newton is best known as the writer of the words of the famous hymnn Amazing Grace & for mentoring William Wilberforce who was instrumentalin abolishing slavery throughout the British Empire. However, as we find out from Jonathan Aitkenin his biography John Newton:From Disgrace to Amazing Grace these were not the most remarkable aspects to his life.
John Newton was bornin Londonin 1775 & press ganged into the navy by age 18. At this point he was nothing like the spiritual influence he was to become.In fact he gained a reputation as a reckless blasphemer that even shocked his fellow ship mates. He was also flogged for attempting to desert. Later on he transferred to a slave ship where his excesses only grew. Ironically, he managed to get himself enslaved for a timein West Africa. However, it was aboard a slave ship on a Translantic voyage that his religious conversion began. One night during a terrifying storm he prayed for salvation & so began one of the deepest & most famous conversions ever. However this change of heart & mind took time & it was not until 6 years later at the age of 29 that he left the iniquitous slave trade & took a positionin customsin Liverpool port. During this period as Surveyor of Tides he studied biblical related subjectsin his spare time which culminatedin his application for ordination to the Church of England. Finally, after more than 6 years of refusals he was accepted & became curatein Olney, Buckinghamshire. This was the start of a highly successful & influential career as a churchman & author that was to have worldwide implications particularly regarding slavery.
This story is authoritatively fleshed outin detail by Aitken. Great credit goes to him via his researcher, Marylynn Rouse for enlarging our knowledge of Newton by mining his cache of unpublished papers. Aitken has that clear, easy style of writing that makes for effortless reading. That said, Newton's life was one of incredible adventure & incident, & contained within it the even more amazing spiritual u turn. Yet the author fails to illuminate this sufficiently & we are left with a thorough, informative biography but one not as compelling as it could have been. Nevertheless, I recommend this book for anyone who has a specific interestin John Newton or 18th century Christianity.
John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace - By: Dr. Tami Brady, 12 Oct 2007 
The story of John Newton's life is one of my personal favorites. Like most of us, Newton's journey to his destiny was filled with false starts, obstacles, & a good deal of regret. Perhaps of all the biographies that I have read, the story of this man's life resonates most with me as genuinely truthful & truly inspiring.
Most people may not initially recognize the name of John Newton, that is until it is noted that he wrote the hymn Amazing Grace. Despite that it was written over 200 years ago, Amazing Grace is the most sung, most recorded, most played song ever. Not bad for a creation that was meant only to serve as a simplistic way to teach scripture to Newton's congregationin Olney.
Perhaps this song resonates so deeply with so many people because the words reflect John Newton's own extremely troubled life journey. Newton spent many years of his young adulthood completely lost. Career wise, he had no idea what he wanted to do & seemed bent on rebelling against everything that was given to him. The only thing he seemed to excel at was creating havoc. His greed & resentment led him to do horrible things including becoming a slaver.
After a series of what Newton perceived as divine interventions, the man slowly began realizing that he needed to change his life. After a lot of false starts, Newton turned his life around & dedicated himself to God's word. In his lifetime, he became a bestselling author bringing religious material to the masses. His frank testimony about his actionsin the slave trade was also significantin the abolishment of slaveryin Britain.
Thorough - but a little staid - By: David A. Green, 03 Oct 2007 In the van of all the slavery films & books I read this biography with considerable interest. Jonathan Aitken tells a detailed story of the life of a great evangelical Christian. His work is thoroughly researched & authoritative - but I thought it lacked "punch". Perhaps that is because the subject - although thrilling enough - was more the religious life of Newton than his adventures.
Aitken portrays Newtonin a sympathetic & scholarly way - but there are times when I feel he could have let his pen loose & exercised a little imagination to enliven the story for readers who - unlike myself - may want a good yarn first & authentic detail next.
The book portrays Newtonin a way that leaves no doubt about his religious views & simple humanity - & for that I highly commend it - but it needs something to lift it into the realm of being more compelling. I read it thoroughly because I am interestedin Newton - a more casual reader might find it heavy going. Nevertheless I highly commend it.
First rate biography - By: G. J. Weeks, 31 Jul 2007 Jonathan Aitken has written an excellent biography, one of the best Christian biographies I have read. Newton is a great subject for a biography for he had a long & amazing life. Aitken is well qualified to write about "From Disgrace to Amazing Grace". He writes with style. His chapters are refeshingly short & to the point. The story is thrilling with "many dangers, toils & snare". One looses counts of the dangers from which the young Newton escapes. It is the story of a great sinner who was found by a great Saviour. Aitken tells the tale with real spiritual as well as historical undrstanding of his subject so thatin concluion he can point the reader to spiritual lessons to be learned from Newton's life. For example. God's timing is not ours. Newton had to wait six years from applying, to be finally ordained as an Anglican minister. His marriage is an exemplary & touching story. Newtons spitiuality & prayer life are a real challenge. Aitken shows how faithful & inovatory Newton was as a pastor & how he helped many, especially his best friend William Cowper. Without Newton there would have neem no great poet only a forgotten suicide. Similarly, without Newton we would probably not have has Wilberforce, politician & reformer. Aitken also tells the story of Newton's famous hymn, its composition & rise to fame. Aitken faithfully relates Newton's faults too. His support of the American rebels had to be withdrawn but one is led to understand why manyin England, especailly non-conformists, were suppporters of the rebels. Newton was an eirenic man who eschewed party labels & associated with Christian irrespective of denominational labels. This is a great biography & I hope we will have more from this fine Christian author.
