Did I beat JT to this or is this not newsworthy enough? Man if I did, I am a very cool person today. Anyway, John Piper’s recent book, Amazing Grace in the Life of William Wilberforce has been made available online for free (in PDF form). Here is a description of the book from Desiring God:
Against great obstacles William Wilberforce, an evangelical member of Parliament, fought for the abolition of the African slave trade and against slavery itself until they were both illegal in the British Empire. Many are aware of Wilberforce’s role in bringing an end to slavery in Great Britain, but few have taken the time to examine his beliefs and motivations that spurred him on for decades. In this concise volume, John Piper tells the story of Wilberforce’s transformation from an unbelieving young politician into a radically God-centered Christian and how his deep spirituality helped to change the moral outlook of a nation.
As world leaders debate over how to deal with a host of social justice and humanitarian crises, a closer look at Wilberforce’s life and faith serves as an encouragement and an example to all believers.
If you are not in the habit of reading good biographies, I strongly encourage you to consider making it a regular diet in your reading. If you don’t, you will find yourself influenced by contemporaries, hoping for your best life now. Well, there are many great men and women who impacted their world then and are continued to be read now. It is one thing to me an influencer in this transient and superficial brand of Christianity; it is altogether another thing to read about lives who have impacted generations of Christians. Wilberforce is such a man as are many others. To avoid chronological snobbery and preserve yourself from being half-baked, take such a biography and be challenged to impact your world today.
Dude, that was such a horrible pun. That book oughta be banned and Piper’s “Desiring God” put on all shelves in its place.
Keep up the groan-worthy puns, though. They’re fun, even if sometimes they induce nausea.
Anyway, I admit that I am not and have never been a big biography guy. I have Marsden’s work on Jonathan Edwards sitting unread on my coffee table. I can’t even dare myself to pick it up, that’s how bad I am about biographies!
Did I beat JT to this
That would be noteworth indeed.!
It’s weird to see Piper and Mohler on a list with Osteen and T.D. Jakes….gives me the heebie-jeebies.
By the way, I checked out your flickr page and had some questions about what camera settings you used at T4G and Above All Earthly Powers. My wife and I are aspiring photographers and love to learn about stuff like that.
give me a shout: [email protected]
Hello,
I really enjoy your blog.
I am the new Pastor of a Reformed Baptist Church in Clapham/London. Every day, taking my son to school, I get to pass Holy Trinity Church where Wilberforce and the “Clapham Sect” planned the abolition campaign. How cool is that?
Jonathan,
First, thanks for reading my blog. It must be amazing to live in a place with so much history! I haven’t been to Europe yet, but it is definitely on the top of my list on places I want to visit. Having studed 17th century English Puritanism, Spurgeon, and the Reformation, I would really like to visit the places where these events took place.
Spurgeon was in Clapham too and this is what Mrs. Spurgeon had to say about their time here “We lived in the dear old house in Nightingale Lane for many happy years; and looking back upon them from this distance of time, I think they must have been the least shadowed by care and sorrow of all the years of our married life.” The Metropolitan Tabernacle is 2 miles from our home. If you make it to this side of the pond please come and stay with us.
Jonathan
Jonathan,
Thanks for the offer man. I will definitely be in touch. I’ve got a couple of friends in the UK, one of them in the PhD program there at Cambridge. This semester I am taking a class where we study the lives of James P. Boyce and Charles H. Spurgeon for the entire semester. I suppose you can expect some of what I will be studying to overflow here in my posts. Thanks for the historical tidbit and quote!
Timmy,
Do you know if this is reprinted from Roots of Endurance or has it been expanded?
Scott,
I am not sure. I haven’t read that edition of The Swans Are not Silent so I couldn’t answer that question definitively.
I do know that Piper has recently taken a couple of his books and provided them in bit size portions lately. He did this with his book on depression, and it may be the case he did it with Wilberforce. But don’t quote me on that. 🙂