Amazing Grace [9781400336609]

Amazing Grace is the surprising true story of John Newton, author of the song that has touched millions. A biography that reads like a novel, it reveals Newton’s dramatic story of sin and salvation as a slave trader before his ultimate transformation to speaking out against the horror of slavery. His story speaks to the brokenness within us all and our need for God’s amazing grace—and reveals the truth behind his song.

Amazing Grace is based on years of research on the life and writings of John Newton. It tells of a prodigal who returns home, and a young love that defies the odds; of a young man whose life is torn by grief and wounded by the cruelty of others, following his descent into deeper suffering and finally into the brutal world of the slave trade. Newton rejects God repeatedly but is rescued by a divine mercy that reaches deeper than he could ever have imagined as he ultimately faces his past and repents.

Newton’s story is shocking, and Amazing Grace does not try to airbrush or excuse his faults. There are glaring contradictions in the life of a ship’s Captain who retreats to his cabin to study his Bible and write tender love letters to his wife while hundreds of slaves lie in chains in the hold below.

Since the first public singing of “Amazing Grace” almost 250 years ago, every generation has been profoundly moved by the song, and now readers can connect with John Newton’s story like never before. In these days of extreme polarization when beliefs about race, church, and politics have all become deeply divisive in society, we need grace more than ever. We need stories like this one that talk honestly about the human condition but even more about the relentless love of God and his forgiveness of sins.

AUTHOR: Bruce Hindmarsh took his DPhil degree in theology at Oxford University in 1993. From 1995 to 1997, he was also a research fellow at Christ Church, Oxford. He has since published and spoken widely to international audiences on the history of early British evangelicalism. His articles have appeared in respected academic journals such as Church History, the Journal of Ecclesiastical History, and the Huntington Library Quarterly.

The recipient of numerous teaching awards and research grants, he has also been a research fellow at the Huntington Library and recipient of the Henry Luce III Theological Fellowship. He is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a past president of the American Society of Church History. His book The Spirit of Early Evangelicalism: True Religion in a Modern World won best History/Biography in the 2019 Christianity Today Book Awards.

He teaches the history of Christianity and spiritual theology and speaks often to lay audiences as well as preaching in his own church and elsewhere. A former staff worker for Youth for Christ and founding director of Camp Cedarwood, he is an active lay member of an Anglican Church. He is married to Carolyn, and they have three children: Bethany, Matthew, and Sam.

Craig Borlase is a New York Times, Sunday Times, and international bestselling ghostwriter of dramatic, engaging memoirs. Over the last two decades, he has written more than fifty-five books, working with a diverse range of authors for a global audience.

Recent work includes Finding Gobi, the New York Times bestselling account of an ultramarathon runner's chance encounter with a stray dog in the Mongolian desert. Now translated into twenty-one languages, Finding Gobi is in the process of being adapted as a feature film by Sony Pictures. Craig collaborated with Andrew Brunson on God's Hostage (an ECPA 2020 Finalist), as well as My Name Is Tani, the story of an eight-year-old chess prodigy living in a homeless shelter in NYC, soon to be a Paramount Pictures movie produced by Trevor Noah.

Craig has also ghosted for Bear Grylls on his bestseller Soul Fuel as well as a range of Middle Grade novels. One of his most recent projects is a memoir of an online gambling entrepreneur who introduced high stakes poker to Asia, with rights acquired by Netflix.