Bible Books: How Sweet the Sound

I’ve always been a sucker for a good, old-fashioned tale of redemption. Perhaps that’s why the story of the 18th-century British clergyman John Newton appeals to me so much. The son of a prosperous British merchant and sea captain, Newton had what some people might refer to as a troubled youth. By the time he reached his early 20s, he’d been fired from numerous jobs, kicked out of the British navy for insubordination (twice) and taken up the unsavory life of a slave trader. He seemed particularly suited to this last profession, since it gave him plenty of time for drinking, swearing and defiling native women.

But all of that changed one night in 1748, when Newton’s ship was caught in a terrible storm in the middle of the Atlantic. As he stood on the deck of the foundering boat, with the water rising all around him, he was suddenly seized by a powerful sense of God’s presence. He vowed that if he survived the tempest, he would embrace Christianity and become a better man.

According to popular tradition, the sinful young Englishman was so shaken by his stormy epiphany that he instantly turned his ship around, returned the slaves to their homes in Africa, and then headed back to England, where he tried to describe his religious awakening in a hymn. It began with the simple, but unforgettable words: “Amazing grace! How sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me …”

The story of John Newton’s remarkable spiritual transformation, and the equally remarkable song it produced, are the dual subjects of Steve Turner’s engaging new book: Amazing Grace: The Story of America’s Most Beloved Song.