Goodreads Reviews: Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery

Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery by Eric Metaxas

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Like most people, I had never heard of William Wilberforce until the 2006 biopic. A fact that the author brought up as well. However, Wilberforce's life, his historical impact on society as well as the world, can never be forgotten. As a man of wealth and means, who had a promising career in politics and was a hero among the elite in England, William was willing to walk away from all the world had to offer and follow God's unexpected plan for his life.

Born into well to do family in England, William Wilberforce did not actually grow up in a Christian household. Actually, his mother despised the spread of Christianity that was coming in the reformed ideals of the Methodist Church led by the Wesley Brothers and the powerful sermons of Jonathan Whitefield.

Wilbur's mother succeeded in pulling him away from the religious nonsense and at 14, he was enrolled at Cambridge College. From there, Wilbur was on the fast track to a successful future career in Parliament alongside his friend, William Pitt the Younger (the future prime minister). Yet, William's heart was never too far from God, even when he thought that religion was no longer important.

In time, William's eyes would be open to the suffering of the world around him. Slavery, poverty, abuse, prostitution, prison conditions, lack of effective leadership, hollow Christianity and society turning a blind eye to the misery and squalor of others. With the support of an extraordinary group of friends, known as the Clapham Circle and other acquaintances, Wilberforce would set England and the world on fire with his passion for abolition, social reform and the 18th Century Christian Awakening.

This is more than a biography. This book is a true in-depth study of an incredible man and the people in his life. While most of the book is about the abolition of the slave trade (and the subsequent ending of slavery in Europe), many of Wilberforce's other projects are also talked about such as the forming of Proclamation Societies and his work in India. Some of this content is not easy to get through. William dealt with some gritty, dark and evil forces in the world. He saw the worse in the man, while trying to bring out the best in him as well.

I never knew that one man could do so much in his lifetime only to be virtually forgotten less than 300 years later. The world owes so much to William Wilberforce and the people of the Clapham Circle. In spite of ill health, desertion of friends and at times, questioning God, William never faltered or wavered in his duty to his country, his family and his faith.