Culture | A hymn for all seasons

“Amazing Grace” is a 200-year-old song with a surprising history

It is sung an estimated 10m times each year

A portrait of John Newton, circa 1775. — Author of a national anthemIllustration: Getty Images

Dec 14th 2023

In 2015 Barack Obama gave the eulogy at a funeral service in Charleston, South Carolina, for a black pastor and eight black parishioners who were shot dead at their Bible-study class by a white supremacist. The president’s speech reflected on the state of race relations and God’s grace, suggesting that, amid the horror and the anger, forgiveness might one day be possible. As he finished, Mr Obama began to sing “Amazing Grace”. The congregation, many of them weeping, joined in. No one needed a hymn book.

This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “How sweet the sound”