As we look at another New Year’s Day, it’s a good time to reflect on a song that unites rather than divides us: the Rev. John Newton’s hymn “Amazing Grace.” The hymn first appeared in Newton’s New ...

Quite remarkable, one observes, is the literary quality of these hymns, for Newton in his early days had been the son of a shipmaster, a sailor of little education. He had served his father on the ...

Born on August 4, 1725, Newton grew up without any specific religious convictions. Forced into the naval service at age 18, he attempted to desert his ship. After being severely beaten on board, at ...

It may seem odd for a historian of slavery to write a history of a popular hymn. In fact, the link between “Amazing Grace” and slavery is clear and fairly obvious: the author of “Amazing Grace,” John ...

If John Newton’s ‘Amazing Grace’ speaks of the end of the road before conversion, his ‘Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken’ speaks of the road afterward. John Newton, detail of image of stained glass ...

(RNS) — James Walvin, a former Church of England choirboy and professor of history at the University of York, doesn’t remember encountering “Amazing Grace,” in song or in his hymnal. It wasn’t until ...