Amazing Grace is an unforgettable hymn, promising balm to every troubled soul ever since a British cleric composed it in 1722. You can hear it in your mind right now—perhaps an echo of civil rights ...

“Amazing Grace: A Cultural History of the Beloved Hymn,” by James Walvin, (University of California Press: Oakland, California), 2023, 197 pages, hard cover.

“Amazing grace,” intoned the eulogist, and repeated it. He began to sing: “how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me,” and the congregation, a bit startled, joined in, as the pianist scrambled ...

As we look at another New Year’s Day, it’s a good time to reflect on a song that unites rather than divides us: the Rev. John Newton’s hymn “Amazing Grace.” The hymn first appeared in Newton’s New ...

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(RNS) — James Walvin, a former Church of England choirboy and professor of history at the University of York, doesn’t remember encountering “Amazing Grace,” in song or in his hymnal. It wasn’t until ...