Reviewed by Tim Ashcraft.
(Review copy courtesy of Banner of Truth.)
Purchase: BOT | WTS ($18.90) | CBD ($24.99)
ISBNs: 0851519512 / 9780851519517
Special Features: Biographical sketches of correspondents, occasional explanatory notes, outline description of letters in the table of contents.
Many fundamental and evangelical Christians are familiar with the name John Newton. Perhaps we have heard how God transformed the blasphemous slave trader into a shining servant of Jesus Christ. Or maybe we know him only as the author of “Amazing Grace.” In his own day Newton was known not only as a powerful preacher and a wonderful hymnist but also as a letter writer par excellence. People who could not visit him “sought his help by letter, and it was this that brought the best out of Newton” (p. xi). In fact, he appears to have viewed his letter writing as his main contribution to the church during the Eighteenth Century Revival (p. xi).
The subject of this review is a fresh edition of his letters, “not to be confused with the Letters of John Newton first published by the Trust in 1960 and reprinted several times since” (p. v). The older edition, a paperback, contains thirty-nine letters, a few of which are reprinted in this new edition. But “this much larger selection contains many more letters, including several that had not been previously published” (p. v). Newton’s letters appeared as individual books before his death in 1807, the most popular being Cardiphonia: or the Utterance of the Heart (1781), a rare volume today. Except for the small paperback, I am not aware of any recent editions of Newton’s letters other than the letters contained in the six-volume Works of John Newton. So I am happy to see this beautiful new hardback from Banner of Truth.(Read the full review here.)
____________________
Banner of Truth has also published the following collections, of which readers should also be aware.
- Letters of Thomas Chalmers with Introduction by Iain H. Murray. (Banner of Truth, 2007), 576 pages/Hardcover.
- Letters of Samuel Rutherford. (Banner of Truth, 2006), 744 pages/Hardcover.
No comments:
Post a Comment