BOOK REVIEW:
Amazing Grace: The Life of John Newton and the Surprising Story Behind His Song by Bruce Hindmarsh and Craig Borlase. Thomas Nelson. 234 pages. 2023
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This book was written on the 250th anniversary of the hymn “Amazing Grace” by John Newton. The book reads like a novel, though the authors tell us it is a dramatized biography with the feel of a film or live play.
Newton’s father was a ship captain and his mother died when John was young. Newton’s father would remarry within two years of his wife’s death.
John met Polly (Mary) when she was just fourteen. He longed to marry her, and although her parents were against it, they eventually did marry. Mary and John adored children, and though they had never had any of their own, they did raise two nieces – Eliza and Betsy.
We read about the young John being snatched from the streets of London and taken on board the Harwich to serve as a common sailor in the Navy. Although earlier he had professed faith, he was soon mocking Christianity, and made it his business to pour scorn now on anyone who took the Bible at all seriously.
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