John Newton

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Henry Newton, Jr.

John Henry Newton, Jr. (born July 24, 1725 in London , † December 21, 1807 there ) was an English author of sacred songs . He had previously been a slave trader, but had a conversion experience in 1748 and then spoke out against slavery . As a priest he founded the community of the Clapham Saints , a Christian group of politically influential Anglicans around William Wilberforce , who had a decisive influence on the abolition of slavery in the United Kingdom.

Life

Newton went to sea with his father until 1742. In February 1744 he was forcibly recruited into the Navy by a press patrol of the Admiralty. On the warship Harwich , he witnessed the hijacking of the French ship Solide in September 1744 . Afterwards he served as a steward on the slave ship Levant . After a serious illness (very likely malaria ) he settled in what would later become Sierra Leone in 1745 and led a sinful life there. After that he was a passenger on the Greyhound off the coast of Africa.

After a threatening crossing in 1748, he converted to Christianity on May 10 of the same year. However, this did not immediately lead to a waiver of work on slavery ships. He rose from first mate to captain on subsequent slave journeys and made three journeys as such, before he gave up seafaring and thus the slave trade on medical advice, mainly due to a stroke, and only advocated abolition more than 30 years later the slavery set in.

From August 1755 he took a job as a tide expert at the Liverpool customs house. In 1762 he reported in letters to the Baptist pastor John Fawcett of his turn to the Christian faith. On April 29, 1764 he was sworn in as a deacon and ordained an Anglican priest ( Church of England ) in June . His widely acclaimed biography first appeared in August 1764.

Together with the poet William Cowper , Newton wrote several sacred songs. His most famous song, Amazing Grace , was written in December 1772 when Newton gave a series of lectures on the pilgrimage to the blessed eternity of John Bunyan and prepared the New Year's sermon of 1773 on 1 Chr 17.16  KJV . In it he describes u. a. His salvation as a grace given by God. In July 1779, Amazing Grace was published in the 428 page Olney Hymns , the songs of which are all by Newton and Cowper.

In 1763 Newton wrote the book A Review of Ecclesiastical History , in which he was critical of colonialism:

“We are taught from childhood to admire those who are called great captains and conquerors in the language of the world, because they are eager to bring murder and horror to every part of the globe and to give their own names through the depopulation of countries glorify, while the spirit of generosity of St. Paul receives almost no attention. "

- John Newton 1763 : A Review of Ecclesiastical History

Newton's biography became an important impetus for William Wilberforce , whose life is portrayed in the 2006 film Amazing Grace . William Wilberforce's great achievement is his essential contribution to the abolition of slavery in the English Empire.

See also

literature

  • Christine Schaub: Time of Longing . Verlag der Francke-Buchhandlung, Marburg an der Lahn 2007, ISBN 978-3-86122-942-1 (English, original title: The Longing Season . Translated by Andrea Wegener).
  • John Newton: The Life of John Newton: Once a Sailor, Afterwards Captain of a Slave Ship, and Subsequently Rector of St. Mary Woolnoth, London. "An Authentic Narrative," . American Tract Society, New York 1854 ( limited preview in Google Book search).

Individual evidence

Steve Turner: Amazing Grace . Brunnen-Verlag, Giessen 2007, ISBN 978-3-7655-1950-5 .

  1. ↑ p. 29.
  2. ↑ p. 40.
  3. ↑ p. 54.
  4. ↑ p. 92.
  5. ↑ p. 94 f.
  6. ↑ p. 103.
  7. ↑ p. 29.
  8. ↑ quoted from p. 115.

Further

  1. ↑ Marcus Rediker: The Slave Ship: A Human History . Penguin Books, 2007, ISBN 978-0-14-311425-3 (English).

Web links

Commons : John Newton  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files
personal data
SURNAME Newton, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Newton, John Henry Junior
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British slave trader, later opponent of slavery, hymn poet
DATE OF BIRTH July 24, 1725
PLACE OF BIRTH London , England , UK
DATE OF DEATH December 21, 1807
Place of death London , England , United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland