Amazing Grace

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of graphic violence and racism, specifically in relation to enslavement.

Newton’s position as a priest in the Anglican Church and his interest in evangelizing this religion based on his own life experiences invites an autobiographical reading of the poem, where Newton is the speaker who’s “saved” (Line 2). In his autobiography, Newton claims that before embracing Christianity, he viewed himself as “a wretch” (Line 2) for participating in the morally abominable system of enslavement. After battling a particularly intense storm in 1748, Newton found faith—an experience that is mirrored in the poem’s description of belief as the feeling that God can “lead [him] home” (Line 12). After making God “forever [his]” (Line 24), Newton believes he has earned a place in heaven. Thus, the hymn summarizes Newton’s transformation from an irremediable person to an irrevocable believer in God.

However, in Amazing Grace, Steve Turner contests this folkloric reading of the hymn (See: Further Reading & Resources), arguing that Newton’s story is a construct that relies on the standard tropes of the conversation narrative—a genre popular in the 17th and 18th centuries that was based on the Confessions (400 AD) of Saint Augustine. This genre relies on striking psychological reversals as protagonists go from moral nadir to fervent belief, and also often feature singular dramatic events as triggers for conversion. Turner finds no evidence that Newton became a devout Christian directly after the 1748 storm; in fact, after surviving the storm, Newton increased his involvement in the trading of enslaved individuals. While Newton eventually became a priest and publicly denounced slavery, the transformation was gradual and took place over decades.