It may seem odd for a historian of slavery to write a history of a popular hymn. In fact, the link between “Amazing Grace” and slavery is clear and fairly obvious: the author of “Amazing Grace,” John ...

AMAZING GRACE: A Cultural History of the Beloved Hymn. By James Walvin. University of California Press. 216 pages. $19.95. When President Obama sang “Amazing Grace” at the funeral of the Rev. Clementa ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. 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 ...

Many people think they know the story of the hymn,"Amazing Grace." The commonly accepted narrative presents its composer, John Newton, a young English captain of a late 18th-century slave ship, as a ...

(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 ...

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 ...