Eric Metaxas, author of “Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery” – the companion book to the recently released major motion picture about Wilberforce and the heroic campaign to end slavery in England – told Anderson University students that the success and quality of the movie, which opened nationwide on Feb. 23 (the bicentennial of the abolition of the slave trade) signals a shift in the perception of Christian-themed entertainment.
Anderson residents and Anderson University students, faculty and staff line up to receive autographed copies of “Amazing Grace – William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery” during author Eric Metaxas’ Feb. 27 appearance at Anderson University.Metaxas should know. Along with writing the book, “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About God (But Were Afraid to Ask),” he has contributed his voice and writing to the “Veggie Tales” animated features, which many credit as being the first major foray for Christian entertainment into the popular culture.
“I just did interviews on National Public Radio and ‘The 700 Club’ back-to-back,” Metaxas told Anderson students during the Feb. 27 campus worship. “That’s unheard of in our culture. ‘Amazing Grace’ is engaging the culture. I believe this is an important time when God is calling us to do that, and I’m thrilled to have a small part in it.”
The film – which has garnered rave reviews from secular and Christian media – and its companion book detail the heroic life of William Wilberforce, who was a powerful member of the British Parliament when he encountered Christ and became a devout believer. The highly entertaining and inspiring film also depicts the spiritual guidance Wilberforce received from John Newton, author of the most famous hymn in the world, “Amazing Grace.” Because of his obedience to Christ and his political savvy, Wilberforce is credited with ending the brutal slave trade, and eventually slavery itself, in Europe, although the battle would take him most of his life. Wilberforce is also credited with sweeping reforms in England that brought biblical principles of justice and charity into national law in Great Britain.
“Wilberforce was a gifted speaker and politician,” said Metaxas. “After his remarkable conversion, he struggled with whether to go into the ministry or to remain in politics. Remarkably, Newton suggested that he could do both, and history changed forever. This is a message for our time. Christians of all walks of life need to feel God’s call, and it is not always to vocational ministry.”
This was the second week Anderson University has hosted a key participant in the “Amazing Grace” project. On Feb. 20, the guest was Erik Lokkesmoe, project manager for Walden Media on the Amazing Grace movie and director of communications for the National Council on the Humanities in Washington, D.C.