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 PrintableVersion John NewtonFrom disgrace to amazing graceWritten out of experienceJOHN NEWTON This is by no means just a popular biography of Newton, well timed to coincide with the bi-centenary of his death. Popular, rather than academic, it certainly is, but brilliantly written, and founded on first-hand research into original, unpublished sources. Mr. Aitken’s work is a valuable and permanent addition to the considerable amount of material on Newton already available. With short chapters, no footnotes and a story line that keeps the reader engaged, the book will hopefully win a hearing where other Newton titles might not. (I bought my copy in a London bookshop where evangelical literature is not normally found.) Unless the reader is hostile to evangelical Christianity, it is hard to see how anyone could not rise from these pages without a growing esteem for the one-time curate of Olney and vicar of St. Mary’s, Woolnoth, London. There is a good deal of documentation on sources used at the end of the book. Only very occasionally are statements in the text weakened by no explicit reference to the source on which they depend for their authenticity. For instance, the assertions of the subject’s sexual immorality in his pre-conversion sea-faring days; and the claim that Newton was influential in recommending Carey for Bengal and William Jay for Bath. Newton’s closeness to Wilberforce is brought out more fully than we have seen elsewhere, supported by manuscript sources. Mr. Aitken’s evangelical commitment is unambiguous. In a typical sentence he writes: ‘In an age when far too many Church of England incumbents were laid-back, lukewarm or sometimes downright lazy in going about their duties, Newton displayed prodigious energy flowing from a life of prayer and personal dedication to the Lord’ (p.134). The only obvious points at which, for me, his opinion is out of step with Newton’s is where he describes Newton’s journey to conversion as ‘courageous’ (pp.60,271), and the explanation given for the popularity of the hymn ‘Amazing Grace’ (p.173 and surely a slip). The book would be strengthened if more attention had been given to the theology of conversion, both as it refers to Newton (was he ‘converted’ in March 1748?), and to his wife, Polly, who, on Newton’s own statement, was not a Christian at the time of their marriage. Similarly missing is some account of 18th-century spiritual conditions —‘a predominantly Christian country’ (p.223) ? — but that has often been dealt with elsewhere, and the concentration on biography is one of the appeals of the book. Jonathan Aitken’s previous best-known biography was his award-winning life of Richard Nixon. From that subject to the author of ‘How sweet the name of Jesus sounds’ is a long way. Aitken could not have written his Newton biography when he wrote of the American president; that he can write such a book now is due to the same experience as took Newton ‘from disgrace to Amazing Grace’. We are thankful. Iain H. Murray,
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