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 ...

A one-time Pennsylvania police officer and Broadway newcomer is the composer and lyricist of “Amazing Grace,” an earnest and well-intentioned original musical about the creation of the famous ...

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 ...

"I am not what I ought to be. I am not what I hope to be. But by the grace of God, I am certainly not what I was." -- John Newton Christopher Smith had never heard of John Newton when, with a little ...

Even John Wesley recognized the role Newton played in forging a “center” for evangelical Christianity. He wrote to Newton, “You appear to be designed by Divine Providence for an healer of breaches, a ...

John Newton was born in London July 24, 1725 to John Newton Sr., the commander of a merchant ship, and his wife Elizabeth. The young boy got his sea legs early—Elizabeth died when young John was six, ...