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365 days with Newton

High society
365 DAYS WITH NEWTON
Selected by Marylynn Rouse
DayOne. 422 pages. £12.00
ISBN 1 903087 92 3

365 DAYS WITH WILBERFORCE
Selected by Kevin Belmonte
DayOne. 374 pages. £12.00
ISBN 1 84625 058 3

2007 sees the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in Britain. Two of the most prominent men in the anti-slavery struggle were Christians: the politician William Wilberforce and the preacher John Newton, who was instrumental in Wilberforce’s conversion.

With this great anniversary in mind, DayOne are giving us the opportunity to spend 365 days with these great Christian social reformers. This is done via the medium of two collections of daily readings from their writings. I have to say that I have only had time to give these volumes a cursory assessment. They only arrived at EN recently, but I felt that the nature of the books meant that people would like to be aware of their existence for the beginning of the year.

There is a Bible verse (AV) and a suggestion for meditation for each day, alongside quotations from these two spiritual heroes. The Wilberforce collection is drawn together by US scholar Dr. Kevin Belmonte who has been acting as consultant for a soon-to-be-released feature film on the life of Wilberforce produced by Walden media.

Wilberforce was a man of action who changed the world, not a regular preacher or writer. However, his famous book A Practical View of Christianity provides the backbone of the material here and is supplemented mostly from his diaries and correspondence.

The Newton collection is made up of previously unpublished sermons and writings and so will be a valuable addition to any Christian’s bookshelf. Introducing this volume Alec Motyer tells us, ‘Newton’s ministry bore the marks so evident in his lovely hymns; it was consistently biblical (to share the word of God), spiritual (to promote walking with God), simple (to make biblical truth and principles plain) and practical (to inculcate personal holiness and sound relationships in church and society).’ Who could fail to benefit from spending time with such great hearts?

John Benton