His father was a shipping merchant who was brought up as a Catholic but had Protestant sympathies, and his mother was a devout Independent, unaffiliated with the Anglican Church. In 1725, Newton was born in Wapping, a district in London near the Thames. A common drunkard or profligate is a petty sinner to what I was.Īccording to the Dictionary of American Hymnology, "Amazing Grace" is John Newton's spiritual autobiography in verse. I was formerly one of his active undertemptors and had my influence been equal to my wishes I would have carried all the human race with me. "Amazing Grace" became newly popular during the 1960s revival of American folk music, and it has been recorded thousands of times during and since the 20th century. Its universal message has been a significant factor in its crossover into secular music. It has had particular influence in folk music, and has become an emblematic black spiritual.
American historian Gilbert Chase writes that it is "without a doubt the most famous of all the folk hymns" and Jonathan Aitken, a Newton biographer, estimates that the song is performed about 10 million times annually. With the message that forgiveness and redemption are possible regardless of sins committed and that the soul can be delivered from despair through the mercy of God, "Amazing Grace" is one of the most recognisable songs in the English-speaking world. In 1835, American composer William Walker set it to the tune known as " New Britain" in a shape note format this is the version most frequently sung today. It has been associated with more than 20 melodies. In the United States, "Amazing Grace" became a popular song used by Baptist and Methodist preachers as part of their evangelizing, especially in the American South, during the Second Great Awakening of the early 19th century. It debuted in print in 1779 in Newton's and Cowper's Olney Hymns, but settled into relative obscurity in England.
It is unknown if there was any music accompanying the verses it may have been chanted by the congregation. "Amazing Grace" was written to illustrate a sermon on New Year's Day of 1773. Ordained in the Church of England in 1764, Newton became the curate of Olney, Buckinghamshire, where he began to write hymns with poet William Cowper. Newton began studying Christian theology and later became an abolitionist. While this moment marked his spiritual conversion, he continued slave trading until 1754 or 1755, when he ended his seafaring altogether. In 1748, a violent storm battered his vessel off the coast of County Donegal, Ireland, so severely that he called out to God for mercy. He was pressed (navally conscripted) into service with the Royal Navy, and after leaving the service, he became involved in the Atlantic slave trade. Newton wrote the words from personal experience he grew up without any particular religious conviction, but his life's path was formed by a variety of twists and coincidences that were often put into motion by others' reactions to what they took as his recalcitrant insubordination. It is an immensely popular hymn, particularly in the United States, where it is used for both religious and secular purposes.
" Amazing Grace" is a Christian hymn published in 1779 with words written in 1772 by English Anglican clergyman and poet John Newton (1725–1807).
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