Jonathan Aitken - John Newton (Foreword by Philip Yancey): From Disgrace to Amazing Grace

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Theres nothing like a well-written, thoroughly researched biography of a godly saint to stir ones heart, stretch faith, and expand kingdom vision. This fascinating and gripping book makes the life of John Newton come alive for the contemporary reader. Theres no hedging on Newtons depravity, nor his utterly passionate devotion to his precious Savior. I highly recommend this excellent workits one that will transform not only minds but hearts!

JONI EARECKSON TADA, JAF International Disability Center; renowned author

Skilled and colorful biographer that he is, my friend Jonathan Aitken has brought to life one of eighteenth-century Englands most influential Christians. This is the riveting story of John Newtons transformed life through Christ. It is the story of amazing grace both in the life of Newton and in the song that has become the Christian national anthem. This is a powerful read about one of the most powerful figures in Christian history.

CHUCK COLSON, founder, Prison Fellowship

A new life of John Newton is a fitting celebration of the bicentennial both of Newtons death and of the abolition of the slave trade, Wilberforces triumph in which Newton played a key role. Master biographer Jonathan Aitken is in fine form, sympathetic, insightful, scholarly and vivid, and his book, like its subject, must be rated unobtrusively spectacular.

J. I. PACKER, Professor of Theology, Regent College; author of Knowing God

A rip-roaring adventure, a passionate romance, and an astonishing journey of faith all in one. But as if that were not enough, Aitkens superb new biography is also chock-full of extraordinary insights into friendship, prayer, networking, spiritual growth, providence, and above all amazing grace and a life of gratitude. I knew the story well, but this telling made a deep impression on me.

OS GUINNESS, author of The Call

A fresh, insightful, and inspiring account of this great yet neglected figure. With that rare skill of a superb biographer, Aitken brings Newton to life for a new generation of admirers.

ALISTER MCGRATH, Professor of Historical Theology, Oxford University

John Newton not only wrote one of the greatest hymns of all timehe lived one of the greatest stories of salvation. A wonderful book.

RODNEY STARK, author of The Rise of Christianity

This moving account of John Newtons life reveals something of the depths, the complexities, and the passions of this unique figure. Jonathan Aitkens writing is both elegant and meticulous. Using unpublished documents, he conducts us in the discovery of this extraordinary personage, so neglected in our time. Today we are hardly done with slavery. If we could follow Newtons example, we would be well equipped in our own struggle for abolition.

WILLIAM EDGAR, Professor of Apologetics, Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia

Grace is always amazingthats what makes it gracebut in the case of John Newton it is also astonishing. Only God could take a vile slave trader and turn him into a useful instrument in abolishing the slave trade and igniting a gospel revival, the flames of which are burning still. The story of Newtons life is compelling and inspires all who seek to follow the path of Jesus today.

TIMOTHY GEORGE, Dean of Beeson Divinity School, Samford University; executive editor, Christianity Today

Jonathan Aitkens personal journey of faithand his brilliance as a writer makes him the ideal person to write this biography of John Newton. The book captures superbly how one life can be transformed by God for the benefit of thousands of others.

TRICIA NEILL, President, Alpha International, London

John Newton is well-known to many as the slaver turned preacher turned abolitionist. Jonathan Aitkens book tells the story behind the man. It is filled with touching and humanizing details. Aitken has also done his homework. He has plowed through thousands of pages of his most prolific subjects books, letters, and sermons, all in order to know the man as he really was. This book is a page-turner, and I, for one, was caught off guard by the interest generated on every page. Four stars!

PAUL ZAHL, Dean/President, Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry, Ambridge, Pennsylvania

This is an informed, authoritative biography of the man who played a critical role in helping William Wilberforce abolish the slave trade. As the composer of the most popular spiritual song in the history of American music, his life story is absolutely spell-binding. I could not put the book down.

ARMAND M. NICHOLI JR., M.D., Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; author, The Question of God: C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life

Millions have sung Amazing Grace. And thanks to Jonathan Aitken, the world now knows its authorJohn Newton. In this masterfully portrayed biography, John Newton, a brutal slave trader, emerges from the shadows of Englands dark maritime enterprise to confront the most heinous inhumanity of his time. From a life of callous cruelty to a champion of compassion, he counsels, challenges, and inspires the political leadership of his day to bring to an end the shameful practice of slavery. In careful and colorful detail, Aitken resurrects this nearly forgotten giant of the faith and establishes Newton in his rightful place as one who has altered the course of western history.

ROBERT (BOB) LUPTON, president of FCS Urban Ministries, Atlanta

Jonathan Aitkens account of Newtons life story is so dramatic and inspiring that it reads like a novel. Newton made a significant contribution to both political and spiritual history. This is perhaps most notable through the profound influence that he had on William Wilberforce and the abolition of the slave trade in Britain.

NICKY GUMBEL, Vicar, Holy Trinity Brompton; pioneer of the Alpha Course

A superbly written new biography of one of the most influential people in the eighteenth century. A hardened atheist, slave trader, and himself for some time a slave in Africa, John Newton was converted to a dynamic Christian faith and became not only the author of Americas favorite hymn, Amazing Grace, but the mentor of William Wilberforce. Without Newton, Wilberforce would never have achieved the abolition of slavery. Jonathan Aitken has written a book that, enriched by fresh research into unpublished papers, will enhance his reputation as one of todays foremost biographers. Secular and religious readers will alike profit enormously from this book.

REV. DR. MICHAEL GREEN

Only a few eighteenth-century people continue to influence modern life more than John Newton. Yet today his story remains largely unknown. Jonathan Aitkens biography of Newton grips us because its applications to our own present moment are so crucially pertinent. Newtons dramatic conversion and the fits and starts of his subsequent spiritual development speak powerfully to our present religious scene. And Newtons embodiment of how individual transformation holds within itself the potential for vast social benefitslifting entire civilizationsspeaks directly to our secular scene. All of us owe Jonathan Aitken a huge debt of gratitude for this thrilling true-life tale. In some ways, the title reflects his own life experience, which makes him uniquely qualified to tell this story. And he does know how to tell a story!