Amazing Grace

Lore & Background

John Newton was born in 1725 in Wapping, London. His mother, a devout Independent, died when he was six, and he was raised by a distant stepmother. At age eleven he joined his father at sea, beginning a career marked by disobedience. He was pressed into the Royal Navy, deserted to visit his love Mary "Polly" Catlett, and was traded to a slave ship. Newton became involved in the Atlantic slave trade, at one point being enslaved himself by the Sherbro people in Sierra Leone. After his father intervened, he was rescued and returned to sea.

In March 1748, while aboard the ship Greyhound, a violent storm struck. Newton, known for his profanity, called out "Lord have mercy upon us!" during the crisis. This moment marked his spiritual conversion. He began studying Christian theology and later became a British abolitionist. Ordained in 1764, he became curate of Olney, Buckinghamshire, where he wrote hymns with poet William Cowper. "Amazing Grace" was written to illustrate a sermon on New Year's Day 1773 and debuted in print in 1779 in Olney Hymns.

Newton's early life included a pattern of near-death experiences and relapses. He denounced his faith after reading a book by the Third Earl of Shaftesbury. His disobedience led to being pressed into the Royal Navy, and he later mocked a slave ship captain with obscene poems. He was starved, imprisoned, and chained at sea. After conversion, he continued in the slave trade as a captain for several voyages before collapsing at age thirty and never sailing again.

Reader's Guide

"Amazing Grace" is among the most sung and recorded hymns in the world, with an estimated 10 million performances annually according to biographer Jonathan Aitken. Its message of forgiveness and redemption through God's mercy has made it especially popular in the United States, where it was used extensively during the Second Great Awakening in the early 19th century. The hymn has been associated with more than 20 melodies; in 1835 it was joined to the tune "New Britain," to which it is most frequently sung today. American historian Gilbert Chase called it "without a doubt the most famous of all the folk hymns." The song has had particular influence in folk music and became an emblematic black spiritual. It gained new popularity during the 1960s revival of American folk music and has been recorded thousands of times since the 20th century. In England, the hymn settled into relative obscurity after its publication. Newton wrote the words from personal experience, and the Dictionary of American Hymnology describes it as his spiritual autobiography in verse.

Did You Know?

• Newton was enslaved by the Sherbro people of modern-day Sierra Leone and forced to work on a plantation.
• The hymn debuted in print in 1779 in Newton and Cowper's Olney Hymns.
• Newton's conversion began during a violent storm in March 1748 when he called out "Lord have mercy upon us!"