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Rating:  -
A very short but succinct biographical sketch of the amazing William Wilberforce. The book could easily be read in one setting. Piper really pulls out and illuminates what drove this man: namely Wilberforce's unflinching faith. Very much worth 5-7 dollars.
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One of my heroes is William Wilberforce. He is not well known in 21st Century America, but hopefully that will change with the recent release of the movie "Amazing Grace", a story about his crusade to end the slave trade in England. If you would like to know more about this man, a great place to start is with John Piper's new mini-biography of him called Amazing Grace in the Life of William Wilberforce.
William Wilberforce lived from 1759 to 1833 and was born to a fairly comfortable family. He was elected to Parliament (England's version of Congress) in 1780 at the age of only 21! Wilberforce was a remarkable man before his conversion, a gifted speaker and a brilliant intellect. At the age of 25, through a variety of influences, Wilberforce was saved by the Lord Jesus. He desired then to meet with a well-known pastor of that time, John Newton, the former slave-trader and author of the hymn "Amazing Grace". At their meeting, Newton urged this young man to continue in his faith, and to not give up on political involvement, as God had given him this position for a reason
After much prayer and seeking of wisdom from others, Wilberforce wrote in his diary on October 28th, 1787, "God has set before me two great objects, the suppression of the Slave Trade and the Reformation of Manners [morals]". (pp. 35). For the rest of his life, these two passions consumed him. Together with some other faithful Christians he began to pray and work for the Lord to change his country for the better. Through a book he wrote, A Practical View of Christianity, many in England were converted from nominalism to a genuine faith in Christ and the `manners' (morals) of the country were radically changed as a result. And through his labors in Parliament, after many defeats, continual opposition and slander, and forty six years of praying and hoping, the British slave trade ended and eventually even the practice of slavery in Britain ended just before his death in 1833. Throughout his struggles, Wilberforce remained gracious and charitable toward his opponents and sought to personally reach out to them, rather than demonizing them for their opposition!
Wilberforce's story, as told by Piper, is a story with a message about how our love for Christ should motivate us to improve our world. It is a story about how faith in Christ can sustain us through trials and opposition. Piper writes, "From the beginning of his Christian life in 1785 until he died in 1833, Wilberforce lived off the `great doctrines of the Gospel,' especially the doctrine of justification by faith alone based on the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is where he fed his joy. Because of these truths, `when all around him is dark and stormy, he can lift up an eye to Heaven, radiant with hope and glistening with gratitude.' The joy of the Lord became his strength (Nehemiah 8:10). And in this strength he pressed on in the cause of abolishing the slave trade until he had the victory." (pp.75-76).
Wilberforce is worth knowing about in our day, where heroes are created by the media for their famousness and comeliness, rather than for their faithfulness and character. This biography is short (80 pages) and tells a fascinating tale of a remarkable man. Piper uses many quotes from Wilberforce's actual journals and writings and you get a sense of the passion and perseverance that the Lord gave this man, and how his faith impacted every area of his life. Grab a copy of Piper's book, and consider how the Lord can use you to impact the world wherever He has called you!
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Just in time for the debut of the movie by the same title, "Amazing Grace" is John Piper's snapshot of the life, faith, and practice of William Wilberforce. Piper, a leading Evangelical pastor and author, succinctly (75 pages) outlines the spiritual forces that motivated Wilberforce's lifelong battle to end slavery in the British Kingdom. Unlike the flurry of other books recently released on Wilberforce, here readers will find the theology behind the man. Further, readers will be engaged to ponder how theology should impact practice today, especially in the area of how a lay person relates biblical truth to social action in today's world.
Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction , Soul Physicians, and Spiritual Friends.
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John Piper is one of our best known and appreciated Christian theologians, whose works span the spectrum from challengingly deep to thoughtfully spiritual. This small book straddles the middle of that spectrum, offering us a biography of the man whose greatest lifetime achievement was to eliminate the slave trade in Britain.
William Wilberforce was a son of privilege and a lifelong friend of William Pitt, who despite a misspent youth succeeded in gaining a seat in parliament before he was twenty-five. His early years were influenced by some of the most outstanding of the dissenter pastors, including the slave trader turned pastor, John Newton, who wrote the beloved hymn "Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound." From that full childhood and adolescence, Wilberforce took not only a deeply held personal conviction that the slave trade was evil, but also a heartfelt concern for those who were marginalized in the Britain of his day.
While he plugged away at the ills of the slave trade, Piper tells us, Wilberforce also determined to give away as much of his inherited fortune as possible, and lived a life that stands as a model for how a Christian layperson can have a remarkably positive impact on his or her world.
All too often people "in the pews" think that they are relatively insignificant, but all they need do is read about William Wilberforce's life to know that they too can impact the world for good in Jesus' name.
John Piper is pastor of preaching and vision at the Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis and the author of many, many books.
If you find this review helpful you might want to read some of my other reviews, including those on subjects ranging from biography to architecture, as well as religion and fiction.
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In just over 50 pages, John Piper gives a biographical study of William Wilberforce's life that I believe reveals the true heart behind the member of Parliament who fought for 46 years (1787-1833) to abolish the slave trade and then slavery in the British Empire. Piper shows us not only what he accomplished during his remarkable life, but seeks to go "behind the scenes" to what drove the man: A steadfast joy in God rooted in the Gospel. John Piper quotes often from Wilberforce's own book, A Practical View of Christianity, to give motives behind the actions. Piper reveals the the true Wilberforce, a view that you likely won't get from textbooks and that will be minimized in secular biographies. The great turning point for William Wilberforce was when God saved him as a young self-centered member of Parliament in 1785; that same grace that saved him sustained him and drove him toward incredible perseverance and accomplishment in many varied causes of social good.
This book is needed today. Toward making Christianity practical and relevant to today's culture and today's needs, many are quickly moving to jettison doctrine and even truth. Seeing so many professing Christians do so little to help the poor, sick, the voiceless in the world (an inexcusable omission that the Church must work to remedy), many say that we need a more Christian morals and less Christian doctrine. Here's what Wilberforce would have to say to that:
"From the neglect of these peculiar doctrines (human depravity, divine judgment, justification by faith alone, regeneration by the Holy Spirit, and the practical necessity of fruit and devotion to good deeds - p. 22) arise the main practical errors of the bulk of professed Christians. These gigantic truths retained in view would put to shame the littleness of their dwarfish morality." (p. 71)
"It is a fatal habit to consider Christian morals as distinct from Christian doctrines." p. 72
Wilberforce took on a large number of initiatives for social good, but behind them all he realized that if one is to have a lasting influence for good he must deal with the root of the problems. Therefore, he attacked sin in himself and his nation not first and foremost as a societal problem. He commented that most of the Christians in England estimated the guilt of an action "not by the proportion in which, according to scripture, [actions] are offensive to God, but by that in which they are injurious to society" (p. 23). Likewise, the greatest good in his aims was the salvation of souls, not just the meeting of needs and the application of justice here on earth.
William Wilberforce accomplished many social goods, it could be argued that in human history he was one of those who accomplished most. He is one that we should all look to in order to emulate him in his diligence, his joy in God, his love, and his doctrine.
I pray that those, like me, who are dissatisfied with the inactivity of the church against the social ills of today would read this book. There are many liberal "Christians" with a sin-minimizing, self-glorifying, truth-questioning, doctrine-denying "gospel" promising a better morality, a better Christianity. Don't buy the lies. Run to the God of Wilberforce, learn the doctrines that drove him because then and only then will you make a lasting difference. Wilberforce says it well:
"The fatal habit of considering Christian morals as distinct from Christian doctrines insensibly gained strength. Thus the peculiar doctrines of Christianity went more and more out of sight, and as might naturally have been expected, the moral system itself also began to wither and decay, being robbed of that which should have supplied it with life and nutriment. (p. 8)
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