Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Mr. "Amazing Grace" as sentimental writer

John Newton's biographer, Bruce Hindmarsh, tells us that Newton wrote his own autobiography (The Life & Spirituality of John Newton: An Authentic Narrative) very much under the inspiration of a contemporary genre: the sensational adventure tale.

But that wasn't the only genre Newton had in mind as he wrote his tale. Newton was writing at just the time when a group of philosophically minded writers were creating that blockbuster of all written forms: the novel. And he didn't miss this development at all--in fact, he used many of the techniques and terms of the new novel form, whose philosophical underpinning was a major and much-ignored Enlightenment "creed": sentimentalism.

The other day, as I sketched some of the historical context for Newton's account for our "patron saints" class, I mused on this conjunction of the sentimental novel and the evangelical conversion narrative--for Newton's "authentic narrative" was hugely popular and much emulated among evangelicals of the late 18th and 19th centuries, and his use of sentimentalist conventions influenced, it seems to me, all conversion narratives to come.

Sentimentalism was not the hankie-wringing, insincere thing that word implies now. And it contained a conviction about how we know truth that was and is strikingly "non-modern."

(Some of what follows is reworked from a conversation on another part of this blog--that's just the kind of creative synergy I'd hoped would happen when I started it! For more, click here.):
Posted by Grateful to the Dead at 20:51:47 | Permanent Link | Comments (6) |

Friday, August 12, 2005

John Newton Timeline 1725 - 1807

The basic timeline was created by Nick Mellersh to help in writing the play "Amazing Grace - John Newton from Slave Trader to Hymn Writer" (the full script of this play is also available online, for church performances at a nominal fee). Modifications have been made and material added from "The Life and Times of John Newton" timeline in Christian History & Biography Issue 82: John Newton.

Childhood years

1725

John born in London (24 July).

Father, also John, a sea Captain brought up in a Jesuit school but remained an Anglican. Mother, Elizabeth (1702-1732), a dissenter (Congregationalist). Knows the famed hymnist Isaac Watts.

1726

Polly Catlett born - daughter of Elizabeth and George Catlett (will become John's wife).

1726

Jonathan Swift publishes Gulliver's Travels.

1732

John (aged 6) is left at home with friend while Mother goes with Elizabeth Catlett to Chatham for sea air. Mother dies.

1733

Captain arrives home and marries second wife Thomasin. Move to farm at Avely and live with Thomasin's father.

1734(?)

John goes to boarding school.

1735

May, George Whitefield comes to a "full assurance of faith."

1735

John learns classics - obviously bright.John's half-brother William born.

1736

John (11) goes on first voyage with father. Starting on 11th birthday. Round Mediterranean trading, mostly wool for anything including spices. Return in spring 1737.

1738

May, John Wesley feels his heart "strangely warmed."

1737 - 39

At home. In trouble with village boys caught poaching in Belhus Avely but just beaten by gamekeeper (could have been transported or even hung) - two events he remembers were when he was nearly killed on a horse and some of his friends were drowned in a boat he should have been on too.

John believes, from these events, that he has been specially saved from death by God for a reason.

1739/1740

Articled to merchant in Alicante Spain. Makes a mess of it and is taken back home by father on the return trip. Picks up a copy of the skeptical book Shaftsbury's Characteristics in Amsterdam and is very taken with it.

Captain Newton moves to London with Thomasin and children.

1740/41

John sails as third mate on voyage to Mediterranean with friend of father. Makes a bad impression.

1742

George Frederick Handel composes Messiah.

1742

Captain arranges for John to go to Jamaica as overseer on plantation.

One week before he was due to leave, John's father asks John to go to Chatham on business, a few days before a letter had come from Elizabeth Catlett asking how things were going with John.

John goes to Chatham, cold and hungry he decides, after all to visit the Catletts. There he meets Polly and family and stays over Christmas, missing the chance of going to Jamaica. Father furious.

Years as Sailor and Slaver

1742

Goes off on second voyage as an ordinary seaman and returns as a much coarsened person.

Gets taken by press gang. Father finds out but the captain of HMS Harwich is adamant they need him and as war is approaching has to stay on.

1744

Hangs around for ages in port. Gets made midshipman. Upsets Polly at her school (seminary). Takes part in sea battle in North Sea and gets some prize money. Meets Job Lewis.

December: allowed leave that he overstays.

1745

Attempts desertion and is caught by another press gang. Flogged and degraded to the rank of seaman.

1746

Put aboard a merchant-man by captain - swapped for some other men.

Gets to know Clow on merchant-man and goes off to work for him on his Island.

Left by Clow in the hands of Clow's wife - African Princess Pey Ey who, after he becomes ill, tortures him and makes him a slave.

November: Released to another white trader on the Island.

1747

Joins another young Englishman to run slave operation at Kittam (A plantation and slave trading post in Sierra Leon). John ends up as the man who buys the slaves.

Arrival of a ship the Greyhound with captain looking for him. His letter from the Clow island had got through to his father who was already trying to find him.

Leaves with Greyhound on the promise of a legacy of £400 a year. This is in fact a lie by the captain to get him aboard in the hope of some reward from his father when he brings John back.

1748

March 1 & 2 storm provokes spiritual crisis and "conversion."

Greyhound limps in to Londonderry, Ireland, and John stays with it till repaired, then on to Liverpool.

Goes to see Polly who is cold to him.

Returns to supervise the building of another slaver. Gets letter from Polly suggesting she might marry him on his return.

1749

Brownlow (25 officers and men) sails to Africa. John goes ashore buys slaves.

Goes to Plaintain islands and sees Clow and Pey Ey. Gets fever and is nursed well by Pey Ey and Clow. Another semi-conversion while ill. Recovers.

Second mate sent out instead of him and drowns. John considers this another miraculous intervention.

Takes slaves first to Antigua then on to Carolina. Cleans and fumigates the ship then back with tobacco.

Christmas 1749. His ship the Brownlow arrives back in Liverpool.

Goes South and asks Polly to marry him. She refuses and forbids him ever to ask again.

However he does and she eventually agrees though unhappy at having him leave her for long voyages (perhaps remembering tales of John's father and mother)

1750

February, marries in Rochester Kent.

May, goes off to captain ship but not ready. Returns. Nearly drowns in gravel pit on later return to Liverpool.

Sets off in Duke of Argyle, a 140-ton, three-masted "snow." 14 Aug 1750. Runs ship in a very pious manner holding services etc. Has to flog his crew (a usual occurrence on ships).

Unusually scrupulous (for a slave trader) taking no one under 4ft And takes relatively good care of them, washing them daily (hosing them down). Slave mutiny in mid-Atlantic but fairly easily put down. Only lost 6 slaves on the passage - an amazing achievement, but most thought it would have been better to take more and lose more.

1751/52?

Father dies. Learns of this in Antigua. Returns to England and spends some time with Polly.

Gets new ship, the African. Takes 174 slaves, of whom 28 die on the 'middle passage.' Goes to St Kitts.

On return, lives with Polly in Liverpool.

1753?

21 October sets out on second voyage in African, this time with Job Lewis as one of his officers.

John gets disenchanted with the slave trade, although he doesn't think it is wrong.

Another slaver, the Racehorse, bought and Lewis left in charge. Lewis after much drinking dies (John considers his damnation to be his own fault as he had mocked Lewis some years before for being religious).

1754

Leaves for middle passage with 87 slaves on board. Ill on route.

Arrives St Kitts.

Meets fellow believer, Captain Andrew Clunie, about religion and learns of the evangelicals Whitefield and Wesley.

1754/55

June sails for England; arrives August. Terrible storm that the African barely survives. John is promised another ship, the Bee, on his return. Can hardly bear the thought of making another slaving voyage. Just before it is due to leave, has epileptic seizure; is convinced to leave slave trade.

Years as a tide surveyor

1755-64

Returns to Kent. Polly ill. June 1755, listens to George Whitefield preach in London.

August 1755, offered job as Surveyor of Tides in Liverpool—a sort of customs job, looking for contraband in all the ships that come in, then taking it and keeping half of the profits. One week in office - one week out on the river.

He becomes a great attender of religious meetings. Writes his first religious pamphlet. Works as Tide Surveyor at Liverpool. Decides to become a minister, but is torn between being a Methodist like many of his friends or an Anglican which Polly and more particularly her family were keen for him to be.

Applied to become ordained in the Church of England; turned down several times due to his friendship with dissenters. Eventually through a friend, Haweis, is offered a pastorate at Olney by an earl who is sympathetic to Haweis (who had been thrown out of his pastorate because he was too friendly with dissenters). The archbishop of York initially refuses to ordain him despite the intervention of the Earl of Dartmouth. But the bishop of Lincoln finally ordains him on Sunday, April 29, 1764.

1756-1763

France and England vie for American possessions during the Seven Years' War.

Years at Olney

1764 - 1780 Olney

June 1764, accepts curacy at the Midlands town of Olney.

August 1764,  a series of letters to Haweis about his life is published as the Authentic Narrative. This achieves for him a certain public fame. The poet William Cowper writes to him, saying it has inspired him to write his own life.

1767, After death of Unwin in an accident, Cowper and Mary Unwin come to Olney.

Cowper and Newton write Olney hymns as a sort of competition to see who can write the most (Includes Amazing Grace and most of Cowper's hymns)

Adopts two nieces Betsy and Elizabeth but Elizabeth dies young.

Friendly with Hannah Wilberforce. Her ward and nephew William Wilberforce aged 8 comes on holiday and is great friends with John but his mother ends it when she finds John is a friend of dissenters.

1773 Newtonpreaches on 1 Chronicles 17:16, 17, and writes Amazing Grace to accompany the sermon. Cowper has breakdown and attempts suicide. Is nursed back to health by Mary and Polly, but end of the hymn writing period.

1774 Publication of "The Omicron Letters" offers some of Newton's finest teachings on the spiritual life.

1777 After a showdown with a crowd on Guy Fawkes day, John decides to leave Olney.

1770

Captain James Cook explores Botany Bay on the shoreline of Australia.

Years at St Mary Wolnoth, London

1779-83

December 1779, Church of England inducts Newton as rector of St Mary Wolnoth, London. Is treated as a famous man in this parish and does much kindness to the poor. Opinion begins to change against slavery and Newton begins to regret his part in it.

1780, Publication of Cardiphonia makes Newton's extensive correspondence available to the public.

1783, he calls first meeting of the Eclectic Society.

1776-1783

American colonies revolt and form independent nation.

1782

Charles Simeon appointed as curate-in-charge of Holy Trinity Church in Cambridge.

1783

King George III appoints William Pitt as prime minister of Britain.

1785-1788

1785, Wilberforce knocks on his door and his fight against slavery begins.

1788, William Pitt calls him before the Privy Council on the subject of the slave trade.

1787

Freed slaves found the British colony of Sierra Leone in West Africa.

1788

English convicts found British colony in Sydney, Australia.

1789

French mob storms the Bastille and begins a revolution.

1790

Polly dies.

1801

Betsy, his niece, moved to Bedlam (insane asylum). Newton supports her by each day going and waving to her from the street. Betsy in time recovers.

1806

He preaches in memory of the battle of Trafalgar. This his last public sermon; by this time he is almost blind and has to be led up the steps to the pulpit.

1807

December 21 dies

1807

Britain abolishes the slave trade in her colonies.

1834

Parliament passes the Abolition of Slavery Act.
Posted by Grateful to the Dead at 21:48:11 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Newton clips from Cornerstone course

 

Here are a few highlights from the Cornerstone course--John Newton session. They are pretty raw, but I thought folks might like to see and interact with them:
***
Yes, he was a sea captain—a backslider from his mother's evangelical faith—who worked in the slave trade and had many adventures and near-death experiences. And yes, it was a storm at sea that first turned him back to God in prayer, (although his ship didn't capsize).

But Newton didn't get hauled out of the water, dry himself off, and write the famous hymn. No, "Amazing Grace" belonged to a second, and Newton believed, far more exciting and important, phase of his life. The part where he became the Anglican curate of an impoverished English midlands town, then the rector of one of London's most prestigious parishes. And became the most influential person to shape evangelicalism in its crucial "teen years" after the heyday of John Wesley.

To Newton, those years as a lonely soul wrestling with God through dangerous situations in exotic locales did not hold a candle, for excitement and eternal significance, to his long career as a pastor.

. . . the hundreds of warm Christian friendships he built over the years, and the work he did to bring Christians together across boundaries of class, denomination, and theology. These were the touchstone of his years as pastor—and what he would really want us to remember him for.

 

Newton was the ultimate Christian boundary-crosser and bridge-builder. He was a Calvinist who accepted Arminians, a state-church pastor who encouraged independent churches, friend of prominent personalities who was comfortable in the company of the working poor.

In an America more pluralistic than ever on its Christian scene—not to mention the many non-Christian religions—John Newton is a man worth knowing.
***
 Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,
that saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind but now I see.

Though some today wonder if the word "wretch" is hyperbole or a bit of dramatic license, John Newton clearly did not think so. In fact often, throughout his life, he referred to himself as "the old African blasphemer."
***
It was during this period of peak influence in his London parish that Newton founded the Eclectic Society, a group of like-minded "Gospel" clergy, to discuss the issues of the day. It was, he said, "the society that bears no name, and espouses no party." It included in its membership Anglicans, nonconformists, and even a Moravian or two.

The agenda of each monthly meeting was driven by a single question, submitted by one of the members at the end of the previous meeting. The members would take turns answering, and Newton kept minutes in a small journal.

The questions spanned theological issues, cultural trends, and the practical trials and dilemmas of church and family life—from "How should we reconcile Paul and James on justification?" to "What are the particular dangers of youth in the present day?"

Newton insisted the group maintain a high tone of gracious humility. In responding to theological error and dealing with ecclesiastical foes, kindness always took precedence over sternness and persuasion over polemics.

"If we stretch our authority, we lose it," Newton observed.

In both its charitable tone and its parachurch format, the Eclectic Society became the model for other parachurch societies (including William Wilberforce's influential Clapham Sect) and agencies (including the great British missionary societies, two of which were birthed out of the Eclectic Society).

***

How Did Newton Build Bridges?

By ministering to the needy, engendering hope in hopeless places.

By building broad personal friendships, fostered by considerable personal correspondence.

By holding fast to his theological convictions, but not allowing them to prevent cooperation.

By working within the government-sanctioned religious system where possible, around it only when necessary.

By giving lay people power and responsibility, encouraging their freedom of thought (unfortunately, at the expense of his pastoral authority).

By gathering people with divergent views and encouraging civil conversation.

Posted by Grateful to the Dead at 12:30:51 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Monday, June 20, 2005

Who was John Newton?

John Newton (1725 - 1807): Connecting through stories to transform plain folk. Many dwellers in late 18th- and early 19th-century rural England found themselves under the boot-heel of modernization. The lacemakers of Newton's first parish barely scraped together a living providing their luxurious product to the doyens of London's "Vanity Fair." Against the highfalutin' literary and clerical culture of his time, Newton perfected the art of ministering in plain words—out of his story and into other people's stories. He told his life narrative in the most popular and imitated biography of his era. And he ministered out of that narrative again and again in sermon, song (most famously, "Amazing Grace"), and an astounding number of letters of spiritual advice. His approach was always personal and caring: he wrote many of his songs and sermons with particular struggles of particular parishioners in mind, and he poured his life into a close friend, the psychologically troubled William Cowper. He took Cowper into his own home, cheered him in his bouts of depression, and inspired him to write many of his brilliant poems and hymns (generally agreed to have far surpassed in subtlety and style Newton's own literary productions).
Posted by Grateful to the Dead at 12:37:40 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |