Christianity and islam Essay Example

Christianity and islam Essay Reflection Paper: Both Christianity and Islam are really broad spread faiths in the universe which have a great impact on the lives of their trusters particularly spiritually. Their common originality, values and some believes has enabled most of their trusters to esteem and seek to understand each others faith. In most states of the universe these two faiths have formed the bases of the states Torahs and are extremely recognized by the authoritiess. Though Christianity is widely dispersed compared to Islam, they impose the same challenge to each other Sing the similarities and the differences between Islam and Christianity, the two can be said to be really different since the chief Prophetss and the sanctum books which form the footing and counsel of the several faiths are non acceptable to the other. Christian religion is based on birth, crucification, decease and Resurrection of Jesus Christ who is the christ which is contrary to the Muslims position of Christ being merely a prophesier among the many. Comparison between the two faiths was much easier because there s a clear difference between the beliefs of the faiths every bit good as patterns in clip of worship. This is because in twenty-four hours today life of the several trusters their spiritual positions are aired. Geting the historic beginning of the two faiths was much easier particularly that of Christianity which begun as a Judaic religious order in the Mediterranean and Islam in the seventh century after the decease of Prophet Muhammad. Geting the differences between the two both being Abrahamic faiths and the sanctum books the Quran and the Bible mentioning to similar ancient people like Isaac and Ishmael in a related context. Introduction We will write a custom essay sample on Christianity and islam specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Christianity and islam specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Christianity and islam specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Christianity is a spiritual belief which begun as a Judaic belief and is seen as Abrahamic faith. Its followings are referred to as Christians. They believe in Jesus Christ the christ as the prophesier send by God to salvage world and the sanctum bible as the usher of their religion. They besides believe that the christ who came in the signifier of world suffered, died and resurrected to remiss them of their wickednesss. It is besides believed that he would return to honor those who have lived harmonizing to the philosophies taught by the sanctum Bible. Islam is an Arabic word significance entry and hence Islam faith is believed to be an Abrahamic faith which believes in entry to the Godhead God Allah and Muhammad as the prophesier. Quran is the holy book believed to be the guideline of the Muslims who are the of the Islamic faith. It is believed that Allah repeatedly revealed it to Muhammad verbally through angel Jibril and the original Arabic version is the concluding disclosure from God which is verbal. Historic background Harmonizing to Stern ( 11-15 ) Christianity originates from the word kristos which is a Grecian word intending the anointed one and it is a monotheistic faith. It guided by the life and instructions of Christ Jesus as shown in the sanctum Bible. It begun as a Judaic religious order from the eastern Mediterranean in the first century and by the fourth century was already dominant in the Roman Empire. Most of Europe was Christianized by the Middle Ages but Middle East, North Africa and some parts in India remained with minority Christians. It spread to America, Australasia and all over the universe through colonisation, find work and missional work hence became a major influence in Western civilisation determining. Thrower argued that It is the words largest faith and represents about a one-fourth of the full population, besides considered as a province faith in several states ( 21-25 ) It is categorized into three groups: Catholics, Protestants and orthodox. Islam began developing as from the seventh century with the Reconstruction of Prophet Muhammad s life after his decease. It started distributing in Atlantic Ocean to Central Asia after Prophet Muhammad s first recitation of the Quran. Harmonizing to Williams ( 1994 ) The Great Mosque of Kairouan is considered as beginning of the western Islamic universe mosques and is preserved up to now. Mention to Abdul-Rahman Islamic dynasties like Ottomans and Mughals collapsed under the European imperial sway during 18th and 19th centuries ( 141-160 ) . Muhammad started conveying Islam at Mecca and subsequently moved to Medina where the folk of Arabia were united to a civil order of Arab Muslim religion.Umar succeeded him in 634 following his decease. The other replacements were Uthman ibn al-Affan and Ali ibn Talib ; the four are referred to as al-khulafa ar-rashidun. Several struggles followed over political and spiritual leading which led to the rise of split amongst the Muslims. Basically th e beginning of Islam is tied to the economic, political and military. Similarities between Islam and Christianity Harmonizing to Strachey ( 62-69 ) both Islam and Christianity are Abrahamic faiths or in other words believe in the being of one supreme God. They both portion common values and beginning which is found in Hebraism when the people of Israel were given Torah. Islam was founded by Muhammad mentioning to the Quran while Christianity was started by the followings of Jesus of Nazareth but they both acknowledge a religious tradition related to Abraham. For the two faiths, God regulations, Judgess, forgives and he s the Godhead of the existence. Jerusalem is besides of major importance to both faiths. It was the metropolis where Christ was brought up, crucified, buried every bit good as resurrected. He besides healed, preached and cleansed the temple so its considered as a holy topographic point. The Al-Aqsa mosque in Sura Al-Isra besides called the furthest mosque is located in Jerusalem the sanctum land. Abdul-Rahman ( 55-64 ) the first Muslims besides prayed towards Jerusalem non Mecca and it was besides the topographic point where Muhammad ascended to heaven. The two faiths besides affirm that God sends angels and Prophetss to convey messages to his people and through divine Bibles reveals his Godhead will. They besides believe in the opinion twenty-four hours when God will step in in the history of world and find their ageless lives depending on personal beliefs and actions. Both faiths believe in the power of supplication and fasting as taught by their earlier Prophetss. Differences between Islam and Christianity Thrower ( 30-58 ) argues that Islam disagrees with some of the Christian beliefs about Jesus Christ like him being the boy of God and Jesus of world, besides the holy three of there being God the male parent, the boy and the Holy Spirit. Christians reject Islam s prophesier and Quran while the Muslims support that God ushers Christians but they perceive Bibles in their ain involvement. It is besides different the manner Muslims perceive the birth of Jesus compared to Christians. They believe that Jesus was created like Abraham while Christians believe that he was conceived by Virgin Mary through the Holy Spirit. They besides believe that Jesus was to be crucified but was miraculously saved while Christians believe he was crucified but resurrected. Christians believe that the Bible is Gods sanctum book which was written by people inspired by God and it teaches the will of God on world while the Muslims accept but believe that it has been corrupted to suit peoples involvements over the old ages. Decision Christianity and Islam are major universes faiths with the latter holding a greater figure of followings. They portion common beginning, values and some believes like God being supreme, Prophetss being God s couriers and opinion of humanity based on personal actions and religion while on Earth. The Quran and the Bible are considered as the two sanctum books written through God s inspiration though the Quran is believed was verbally revealed to prophet. Muhammad through angel Jibril. The two faiths have some major differences like the birth, crucification, decease and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. They besides differ in the originality of the sanctum bible as compared to that of the sanctum Quran every bit good as its reading by the Christians. The similarities between the two outweigh the differences. Plants Cited Abdul-Rahman, Muhammad, Saed. Islam inquiries and replies. Volume 22, MSA Publication Limited. Saudi Arabia. 1972 Lewis, Bernard A ; Churchill, Buntzie, Ellis. In the faith and the people. Illustrated. Wharton School Publishing, U.S.A, 2008 Stern, Bernard, Joseph. Science A ; society, Volume 12, 1-3, Concept Publishing Company, 1948. Strachey, Lytton A ; Holroyd Michael. Eminent Victorians, Nile Penguin Classics, 1986. Thrower, James. Marxist-Leninist scientific atheism and the survey of faith and godlessness in the USSR. Volume 25. Vienna ; Walter de Gruyter, 1983. Willliams, John, Adel. The Word of Islam. University of Texas. Qayrawan. 1994

Battleship Potemkin

Battleship Potemkin Introduction Sergei Eisenstein’s 1925 film Battleship Potemkin represents a classical example of formalist editing in cinematography. According to most well-known enthusiasts of this style of editing, such as Pudovkin and Eisenstein himself, the semantic significance of film’s mise en scene should not be dialectically explored but rather constructed.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Battleship Potemkin specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Both individuals tended to perceive the process of movie’s editing as being similar to the process of composing music – just as composer constructs a melody out of individually sounding and often dissonant musical notes, film’s director endows a particular scene with semiotic significance by the mean of providing scene’s takes with contextual wholesomeness. While outlining the essence of formalist editing, Gianetti (2001) states: â€Å"The envir onment of the scene is the source of the images. Long shots are rare. Instead, a barrage of close-ups (often of objects) provides the audience with the necessary associations to link together the meaning† (p. 157). Given the fact that Eisenstein never ceased being closely affiliated with promotion of Communist agenda, it comes as not a particular surprise that he had chosen in favor of formalist editing – by juxtaposing scenes’ seemingly unrelated shots, he was able to endow his films with clearly defined ideological sounding. In the same book from which we have already quoted, Gianetti provides us with the insight onto the actual technique of Eisenstein’s style of editing: â€Å"The conflict of two shots (thesis and antithesis) produces a wholly new idea (synthesis). Thus, in film terms, the conflict between shot A and shot B is not AB but a qualitatively new factor- C† (p. 158). In the next part of this paper, we will explore how Eisenstein went a bout applying the methods of formalist editing in Battleship Potemkin at length. Analytical part Even the very beginning of Battleship Potemkin is being perfectly illustrative of how the utilization of formalist editing in film can achieve a strong dramatic effect. At first, there is a take of battleship’s physician wearing a monocle, meant to emphasize his association with the class of bourgeoisie (00.05.43). After that, follows the shot of maggots crawling all over the piece of meat, which was supposed to serve ship’s sailors as food (00.05.45). After having exposed viewers to this take for a while, Eisenstein sharply replaces it with the shot of angry expression on sailors’ faces (00.05.60). It is needless to mention, of course, that from purely semantic perspective, the sequence of these shots does not make much of a sense.Advertising Looking for essay on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn Mo re Nevertheless, after having watched this particular scene, viewers quite unintentionally get to absorb the idea that Eisenstein wanted them to absorb – namely, the fact that, while serving in Russian Imperial Fleet, sailors used to be subjected to a number of different abuses, which had prompted them to revolt. Just as it is being often the case with today’s TV commercials, the main idea that combined earlier mentioned shots into something that conveyed cognitively recognizable ideological message, only existed in director’s imagination. And, it is namely the fact that Eisenstein was a master of psychological manipulation, which had allowed him to impose his obscure and morally repugnant ideas upon viewers as representing some objective value. Another clue as to the actual essence of Eisenstein’s formalist editing can be found in the scene where revolutionary speakers address angry mob (00.41.32 – 00.42.19). Given the fact that Battleship Potemkin is a silent movie, exposing viewers to the sight of crazed revolutionaries encouraging marginalized crowds to kill nobles, while intensely gesturing, making angry faces and spewing saliva, during the course of the process, does not appear rationally motivated – after all, there is no sound in the movie. Nevertheless, by having this particular scene presented in his film, Eisenstein did not aim at subjecting viewers to Communist propaganda per se, but rather at making them cognitively comfortable with this propaganda as a concept, because on subconscious level, people tend to associate emotional intensity with intellectual honesty. In other words, just as it is being the case with the shots of maggots crawling over the piece of meat, the shots of hook-nosed political activists instigating ‘proletarians’ to overthrow Czar had served the cause of psychological manipulation, on director’s part – a clearly formalist editing technique. Neverthel ess, it is specifically the scene of czarist police shooting at civilians in Odessa, which provides us with the full understanding of how the utilization of formalist editing had helped Battleship Potemkin to attain a cult status. After police fires a salvo at demonstrators, we get to watch the following sequence of structurally unrelated takes: people running down the ‘Potemkin stairs’ (00.49.23), some kids laying on these stairs and crying, while being stepped upon (00.50.08), a bug-eyed woman experiencing an emotional distress (00.50.12), the older woman making jesters with her hands (00.51.18), one-legged man maneuvering through the running people on his crutches (00.51.48), police officers firing another salvo (00.51.51), woman with a baby in her hands catching the bullet (00.52.53), people running again in a chaotic manner (00.53.07), and finally the baby-carriage with a baby rolling down the stairs on its own (00.54.57), with this shot climaxing the whole scene.A dvertising We will write a custom essay sample on Battleship Potemkin specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Apparently, Einstein was well aware of the fact that, even though the scenes of police shooting at civilians do not occur very often in reality, his depiction of such a scene nevertheless would be perceived by viewers as perfectly plausible, due to its strongly defined emotional undertones. In their turn, these undertones had been brought about by director’s mastery in utilization of formalist editing. Conclusion Even though that in ‘artsy’ circles, the application of formalist editing in cinematography is being often considered as the only appropriate, due to such editing’s ‘sophistication’, the majority of movie goers do not subscribe to this point of view. And, this has nothing to do with their lessened intellectual abilities, as is being implied by enthusiasts of ‘auteur’ genr e in cinematography, but simply with the fact that this style of editing does not correspond to the linearly defined workings of Westerners’ psyche. In formalistically edited movie, there is very little of an actual movie, but mostly theory. The watching of Einstein’s Battleship Potemkin is like observing Malevich’s Black Square painting – without having been introduced to both individuals’ highly irrational and superficially sophisticate life-philosophies, it would prove quite impossible to define the actual significance of their cinematographic/artistic creations’ themes and motifs, if we assume that they do exist. As Gianetti had put it: â€Å"Eisensteins theories of collision montage have been explored primarily in the avant-garde cinema, music videos, and TV commercials. Most fiction film ­makers have found them too intrusive and heavy-handed† (p. 168). Thus, even though in Battleship Potemkin Einstein did succeed with providin g an emotional appeal to the Communist cause, he nevertheless had failed in making this particular movie watchable – after all, viewers do not particularly enjoy the feeling of being intellectually manipulated by the mean of being forced to accept director’s own ideological agenda as representing an undeniable truth-value. References Gianetti, L. (2001). Understanding movies. 9th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.

Assessing Change in Homeland Security Policy and Practices Case Study

Assessing Change in Homeland Security Policy and Practices - Case Study Example Maryland responded to the threat of terrorism in the United States during September eleven in broad way that linked its security organs, legislature and administration and there were changes in security administration and emergency management to suit the urgent situation after September 11. The state of Maryland did not experience a territorial attack on the September eleven 2001. However, the event served as an opportunity to catalyze change in the state security organs creating the need to reassess the security and emergency approach. Therefore, the related departments of the state in conjunction with federal agencies were put to test regarding their ability to respond to emergency more specifically terrorism. Basically, the state has a vital, immensely noticeable army and intelligence agency manifestation that offers unique security and admission matters during incidences of keen watchfulness creating intense traffic support on the nearby infrastructure systems. Furthermore, imperative links to regional cooperation regarding infrastructure exist involving federal administration, Columbia, Maryland and Virginia at the strategic Potomac River junction along with Baltimore Parkway. Owing to the fact that there was no territorial attack on Maryland, the reaction was mer ely concentrated and anticipatory. This comprised of augmented vigilant checks on burrows, roadways as well as viaducts; measures to guarantee infrastructure safety, traffic jam organization, providing alerts and announcements and aiding Virginia DOT after the attack on pentagon. The State’s transport department was well organized and was concentrated on being receptive. What emerged from the entire episode was that the relevant departments of security and emergency response in Maryland were administratively excellent, with perfect though developing protocols and had the required power to respond swiftly to emergency at a

What does freedom of the press mean To what extent does it exist in Assignment

What does freedom of the press mean To what extent does it exist in modern Britain - Assignment Example On the corresponding side, we find that many countries have the ‘freedom of information laws’ or the ‘sunshine laws’ that while defining the scope and extent of the so called ‘national security /interest,’ also allows a citizen to take legal recourses, where he can appeal to get access to government protected information at a minimal charge. UK has implemented this freedom of Information Act 2000 s. 36 (The National Archives, Freedom of Information Act 2000), which gives freedom to its people to access certain parts of the protected information. In this article, I will examine the concept of freedom of press, and will study to find its relevance in modern day UK. Discussion The ‘right to express’ falls under the category of basic human rights and civil liberties, where the state is under obligation to provide for these fundamental rights to its citizens, under the International Convention of human rights, and also the European Conve ntion of human rights. ... Freedom of press is generally covered under the provisions freedom of speech or the right to express, where publications by the press receive the same legal protections as are given to any the other forms of publication, and oral speeches. Freedom of press is seen to be the core feature of democracy, while â€Å"censorship and other restrictions on the press are the hallmark of totalitarian and suppressive regimes† (Baldock, Manning and Vickerstaff, 2007, 100). However it is not always necessary that a government be openly suppressive or manipulative, in its control over the press. There are often more subtle and insidious means (as seen in UK) over controlling the press and blocking or limiting the available information, thus making reporting difficult on certain incidents (ibid). In this context we will now examine as to how the press operates in UK, and will explore to see whether it is really as Baldock, Manning and Vickerstaff claim that the UK government cuts down on the freedom of the press in a very subtle manner. The Human Rights Act (HRA) that was passed on 9th November 1998 by the UK government (made effective from 2nd October 2000), was aimed at giving more force to the rights, framed within the European Convention on Human Rights. The HRA, which provides for individual rights in UK, also gives the press freedom to express. Thus, from the government’s point of view, we find that there are indeed provisions made for the freedom of press in UK. However in the last few years it has been seen that the freedom of press has turned into a nightmare of sorts, for many of the celebrities and well known personalities in UK. This has led to speculations, both within the general public and the government, as to

Identifications in Hip Hop Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Identifications in Hip Hop Culture - Essay Example Bernard Zekri and   Jean Karakos had a significant impact on the history of American rap in the 1980s. In 1980, Zekri made the decision to leave France and move to New York where he worked in a restaurant with French owners. In this year, Karakos who had headed a small label in France referred to as Celluloid also moved to New York and met Zekri. The two had a significant impact on the American hip-hop culture which had long-term implications including bringing American hip-hop to countries overseas and changing the manner in which rap music was recorded. 4.Kafig The power that characterizes French hip-hop dancing can be traced back to the careers of individuals and the fact that developments in the styles of dancing occurred in regions that applied their own preferences. Kafig is a genre that comes from the regions of Lyons as well as Paris and is considered as the birthplace of hip-hop dancing. Kafig is a dance that is specialized, characterized by numerous complex movements. The artists who engage in this type of dance display a   large amount of emotion as well as power in their movements. This style of dance impacts on hip-hop culture through the fact that it aims at cultivating awareness of how movement can bring out a certain message or create a different depiction of the world(McCarren 65).   5. Siya Possi XThe name Siya Possi X is derived from both the English term referring to the posse and the phrase siya possi which means in simple terms people who are to be killed.

Basic empirical beliefs and its importances

Basic empirical beliefs and its importances A basic belief for most people is the idea that we believe in something which has not been corrupted by other beliefs to change the core belief we initially have about certain things. They are not inferred from other beliefs and is known better as Foundationalism. From this is the idea of a basic empirical belief, a belief that is learned by observing it using our empirical knowledge; sight, hearing, touch etc. To try and understand beliefs more clearly and to grasp what knowledge is without empirical beliefs, if it can happen, I will look at Foundationalism its counter argument Coherentism and the basic idea of empirical/sensory belief. Foundationalism considers that we need a core set of beliefs, beliefs that our other beliefs we have are built upon in order to make the original belief become more real. Most of us have a foundationalist belief structure and our basic beliefs can be justified by beliefs that link to it in order to make it more factual and the basic belief makes the beliefs which tie in with it justified. However, this doesnt mean that they themselves are justified, just that the basic belief, if true, makes the beliefs that stem from it justified. Following from having a basic belief, The Regress argument/Trilemma puts across that a belief is justified by another belief which is justified by another, then another and so on. So a) It goes on forever, b) Ends with some of the beliefs justify themselves, c) Ends with some of the beliefs having no justification. Therefore, if it went on forever it would be a vicious circle and end up having no end or beginning. It is a vicious regress, which Lewis discusses further, if you believe in the chance of something occurring or being true is small, then you dont really believe it because to have belief in something you need to b e able to justify it, if nothing can be certain then how do we know anything? But the idea of regress can be reversed if something is certain and we believe in it, so some beliefs must be certain. In Agrippas Trilemma, the 2nd option relates to Coherentism, which is an alternative argument to Foundationalism. Coherentism considers that if there could be now way to justify our empirical sense beliefs, and if the idea that beliefs can be justified by one another forever is ruled out then the beliefs can only be justified by their unique properties in relation to other beliefs and how well they fit together in order to produce a organised system of beliefs. Consistency is a requirement of coherence, but a set of beliefs do not need to have flaws to have no coherence, beliefs, which are perfectly consistent, may also have no coherence. As said in Agrippas Trilemma, beliefs justify themselves instead of going on forever, this is shown by the idea that if a belief was to be justified by another belief and so on, then empirical justification moves in a circular motion. But, Coherentism moves away from this idea and towards the idea of a linear motion and that the belief is in a line, with the order of epistemic priority at the beginning and epistemic justification at the other end of the line. The belief justifies itself then, as it does not need to have another belief to rely on it to make it justified. Moving on from this, having empirical beliefs means to have knowledge of our beliefs by gaining it through our senses. Foundationalism believed that basic beliefs were infallible, but by looking at Infallible sensory beliefs, what we believe to be seeing might not be infallible after all and most of our beliefs make us sure of our sensory beliefs. So it seems that we cannot have beliefs without our senses. For example, the belief in a religion, a God, that England are the best at Rugby, all these beliefs cannot be justified unless we have our sense to prove so. Furthermore, we cant have these beliefs to begin with unless we use our empirical knowledge to understand what we believe. If we had no sight then we could not read Holy Scriptures, which reveal religions, if we had no hearing then we could not hear classical music which you may believe to be the best music made by man and so forth. Our empirical knowledge is intertwined closely with our beliefs, and if we were unfortunate to not be able to use all our empirical senses and to have 1 of them taken away, this still hinders our chances of having a true belief in something and being able to justify it. However, a belief can make us more certain of our sensory beliefs e.g. I think I felt a spider run across my back. Later we discover it was a feather duster. Why cant other beliefs lower how sure we are of our sensory beliefs? If we are to accept the foundation of sensory beliefs, how does this relate to the belief structure? Following on from empirical beliefs is a priori knowledge. It is common to most that all the knowledge we hold comes from experience, experience we gain through using our senses. Our experience is not doubted and is gathered by using raw material of our sensible impressions, our empirical knowledge is formed by our interpretations of our own knowledge. A priori knowledge is very different from this, it does not come from experience, and it comes from innate knowledge we are born with. In example, a man who undermined the foundations of his house, that he might have known a priori that it would fall, that is, that he need not have waited for the experience of its actual falling. A priori knowledge is totally separate from experience, its opposite being posteriori, knowledge through experience. With beliefs, we adapt what we know from posteriori and a priori knowledge to justify and understand what we know about our beliefs. Before we are born are we are believed to have this previous knowledge, which Piaget talks of in relation to conscience and children. A child develops internal representations or mental and physical actions, some Schemata that are already present in a newborn, such as sucking, gripping and crying. Others develop as the child grows. The Schemata are built through 2 processes: 1. Assimilation- fitting newly acquired knowledge into what the child already knows. 2. Accommodation-as new experiences occur which do not fit into existing schemata, the child adapts them t fit, or creates new ones. This is similar to beliefs and knowledge, we can have a priori knowledge of a religion, like a blueprint in our mind of a God and we can build on our belief of this by using empirical knowledge to know more about it and by adapting what we already know and interpreting it with our senses. Overall, arguments show that mainly, if we cannot have empirical beliefs then we would find it hard to now anything. Our senses play a huge part in creating thoughts of belief, and without them it is hard to understand what beliefs can be justified if we were to for example have no sight or hearing. We would not be able to believe in a religion, except for the idea that we have a priori knowledge of a God. However, the basic belief of this is not enough to justify it and requires other beliefs to justify it, so this makes it hard for us to know anything. Or for that matter, anything true. I believe that we cannot know anything other than what we are innately born with, but this knowledge alone is not enough to create beliefs or pure knowledge, which solidifies these beliefs. Our empirical senses are key to establishing what we believe and whether we can justify them further therefore without empirical beliefs we can know nothing sufficient. Bibliography The Structure of Empirical Knowledge- Lawrence Bonjour 1986. London, Harvard University Press, ch.5 Critique of Pure Reason, trans. Immanuel Kant 1929. Norman Keep Smith, New York, St. Martins Press, 41-55 Piaget and the Foundations of Knowledge- Lynn S. Liben 1983. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, New Jersey, ch.6

History On Amazing Grace :: essays research papers

"Amazing grace, how sweet the sound..." So begins one of the most beloved hymns of all times, a staple in the hymnals of many denominations. The author of the words was John Newton, the self-proclaimed wretch who once was lost but then was found, saved by amazing grace. Newton was born in London July 24, 1725, the son of a commander of a merchant ship which sailed the Mediterranean. In 1744 John was impressed into service on a man-of-war, the H. M. S. Harwich. Finding conditions on board intolerable, he deserted but was soon recaptured and publicly flogged and demoted from midshipman to common seaman. Finally at his own request he was exchanged into service on a slave ship, which took him to the coast of Sierra Leone. He then became the servant of a slave trader and was brutally abused. Early in 1748 he was rescued by a sea captain who had known John's father. John Newton ultimately became captain of his own ship, one which plied the slave trade. Although he had had some early religious instruction from his mother, who had died when he was a child, he had long since given up any religious convictions. However, on a homeward voyage, while he was attempting to steer the ship through a violent storm, he experienced what he was to refer to later as his "great deliverance." He recorded in his journal that when all seemed lost and the ship would surely sink, he exclaimed, "Lord, have mercy upon us." Later in his cabin he reflected on what he had said and began to believe that God had addressed him through the storm and that grace had begun to work for him. For the rest of his life he observed the anniversary of May 10, 1748 as the day of his conversion, a day of humiliation in which he subjected his will to a higher power. "Thro' many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come; 'tis grace has bro't me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home." He continued in the slave trade for a time after his conversion; however, he saw to it that the slaves under his care were treated humanely. In 1750 he married Mary Catlett, with whom he had been in love for many years. By 1755, after a serious illness, he had given up seafaring forever. He decided to become a minister and applied to the Archbishop of York for ordination.