Interview with Dr. Timothy Paul Jones
Interview Summary
Q. Besides John Newton, were there other people who inspired Wilberforce to become Christian?
A. John Newton didn’t inspire Wilberforce to become Christian; he convinced Wilberforce to not quit politics after Wilberforce converted to Christianity.
For primary sources, you'll want the tracts, books, and letters of William Wilberforce. You can find those by going to http://books.google.com and entering the following phrase in the search bar:
inauthor:"William Wilberforce"
That will bring up everything that Wilberforce wrote, and most of it can be searched free of charge...
A. John Newton didn’t inspire Wilberforce to become Christian; he convinced Wilberforce to not quit politics after Wilberforce converted to Christianity.
For primary sources, you'll want the tracts, books, and letters of William Wilberforce. You can find those by going to http://books.google.com and entering the following phrase in the search bar:
inauthor:"William Wilberforce"
That will bring up everything that Wilberforce wrote, and most of it can be searched free of charge...
Dr. Jones also helped us find primary sources and reliable secondary sources. He recommended the book Amazing Grace in the Life of William Wilberforce by John Piper, as well as Eric Metaxas' biography of Wilberforce.
Despite the fact that our interview was short in length, he gave us valuable information about our topic.
We would like to thank him for giving us his time to answer our questions.
We would like to thank him for giving us his time to answer our questions.
Interview with Vanessa Salter
Q. Are there any famous figures that were influenced by Wilberforce and his work?
A. Yes I think for friendship William Pitt, the Prime Minister who was a dear friend. Hannah More was also a dear friend of Wilberforce but it was John Newton who was previously a slave trader and slave ship captain who become a Christian and influenced Wilberforce and his religious outlook on life.
Q. Can you recommend some famous quotes that show Wilberforce's impact?
A. You can google William Wilberforce’s May anti-slave trade speech in Parliament that he made in May 1797 which lasted 3 hours and outlined his passion but also his ‘cool reason’ on what the slave trade should be abolished. I think this shows Wilberforce at his best both politically but also as an impressive speaker as he was known as the ‘Nightingale of the Commons’ for his melodically powerful voice
Q. While fighting for the abolition, Wilberforce put himself in danger several times. Can you tell us some of the risks he had to deal with due to his job?
A. He received death threats from people via the post and Captain Kimber who Wilberforce named in a Parliament speech threatened to sue him. A man also came to his house and threatened him. King George III once refused to receive him which hurt Wilberforce greatly as he was a great supporter of royalty.
A. Yes I think for friendship William Pitt, the Prime Minister who was a dear friend. Hannah More was also a dear friend of Wilberforce but it was John Newton who was previously a slave trader and slave ship captain who become a Christian and influenced Wilberforce and his religious outlook on life.
Q. Can you recommend some famous quotes that show Wilberforce's impact?
A. You can google William Wilberforce’s May anti-slave trade speech in Parliament that he made in May 1797 which lasted 3 hours and outlined his passion but also his ‘cool reason’ on what the slave trade should be abolished. I think this shows Wilberforce at his best both politically but also as an impressive speaker as he was known as the ‘Nightingale of the Commons’ for his melodically powerful voice
Q. While fighting for the abolition, Wilberforce put himself in danger several times. Can you tell us some of the risks he had to deal with due to his job?
A. He received death threats from people via the post and Captain Kimber who Wilberforce named in a Parliament speech threatened to sue him. A man also came to his house and threatened him. King George III once refused to receive him which hurt Wilberforce greatly as he was a great supporter of royalty.
Interview with Mrs. Janet Benge
Interview Summary
Dear Hannah and Kristina,
Thank you for emailing me. It looks like you are very busy with your project. Let me answer your questions
1) Were you inspired by Wilberforce? Yes, we were very inspired by William Wilberforce. I think the thing I admire most about him was his tenacity. He had a goal and he stuck to it even though it took nearly his entire adult life. Not many people are able to stick to one thing for so long, especially when there are times they feel like no one else cares or understands. He took something that not many people even cared about and made it into something that the nation rose up against in the end...
As I wrote the book one of the things that struck me so much was how so many people were a part of the slave trade but no one seemed to take the lives of the slaves seriously. They chose to see them as more like animals, yet they must have known they were human beings just like them. As John Newton wrote, "I once was blind but now I see." Many people chose to remain blind until William Wilberforce confronted them with the truth.
All the best with your project.
Janet Benge
Thank you for emailing me. It looks like you are very busy with your project. Let me answer your questions
1) Were you inspired by Wilberforce? Yes, we were very inspired by William Wilberforce. I think the thing I admire most about him was his tenacity. He had a goal and he stuck to it even though it took nearly his entire adult life. Not many people are able to stick to one thing for so long, especially when there are times they feel like no one else cares or understands. He took something that not many people even cared about and made it into something that the nation rose up against in the end...
As I wrote the book one of the things that struck me so much was how so many people were a part of the slave trade but no one seemed to take the lives of the slaves seriously. They chose to see them as more like animals, yet they must have known they were human beings just like them. As John Newton wrote, "I once was blind but now I see." Many people chose to remain blind until William Wilberforce confronted them with the truth.
All the best with your project.
Janet Benge
Interview with Dr. Stephen Sim
1. Why does William Wilberforce inspire you?
He inspired me in several different ways. He impacted the world by his tireless efforts to reform and transform the society and in that perspective, he inspires me to think about how I should reform and transform the society that I am living in today. The inspiration comes from him because he had such a strong sense of destiny; he later said the destiny was called by God and because of that, he never gave up abolishing the slave trade even though he faced many challenges at that time. Another way was that during that process of presenting the bill to finish the slave practices in Britain, he always got oppressed and accused. Because of that, almost everybody in the government was against his bill, and whenever this happened, he seeked his friends, such as John Wesley and John Newton. In that sense, I need to seek out friends when the hard times come by in my life.
2. Why do you think so many people are inspired by him?
One of the reasons might be because he changed the course of the national history of Great Britain, which also impacted the international history because after 40 years after the bill was passed, Abraham Lincoln actually end the slave practices in the United States as well. So, it changed the course of national and international history. As a politician he could just care about his position in the government, his wealth, and status. However, he cared about the least of all people and the poorest of all, and defended their rights and spent most of his public life to defend them and to care about them and I think that's why people are inspired by him.
3. What do you think of his work done in Parliament?
I think it is one of the greatest works of all because no one cared about slavery at that time and only cared about their status and position in government. But, William Wilberforce represented the lowest class of the people and brought their own agenda to them so Parliament knew what was going on in slavery practices of Britain. He brought justice and brought God's value whegre he created all men equal. I think those are part of his greatest works.
4. Has he inspired you to do anything, to take any kind of action?
He impacted me in the most powerful way to change the world from where you currently are because it doesn't matter who you are or where you're from. Education also doesn't matter along with family background as long as you have a clear sense of destiny of what God has called you to do in this life.
He inspired me in several different ways. He impacted the world by his tireless efforts to reform and transform the society and in that perspective, he inspires me to think about how I should reform and transform the society that I am living in today. The inspiration comes from him because he had such a strong sense of destiny; he later said the destiny was called by God and because of that, he never gave up abolishing the slave trade even though he faced many challenges at that time. Another way was that during that process of presenting the bill to finish the slave practices in Britain, he always got oppressed and accused. Because of that, almost everybody in the government was against his bill, and whenever this happened, he seeked his friends, such as John Wesley and John Newton. In that sense, I need to seek out friends when the hard times come by in my life.
2. Why do you think so many people are inspired by him?
One of the reasons might be because he changed the course of the national history of Great Britain, which also impacted the international history because after 40 years after the bill was passed, Abraham Lincoln actually end the slave practices in the United States as well. So, it changed the course of national and international history. As a politician he could just care about his position in the government, his wealth, and status. However, he cared about the least of all people and the poorest of all, and defended their rights and spent most of his public life to defend them and to care about them and I think that's why people are inspired by him.
3. What do you think of his work done in Parliament?
I think it is one of the greatest works of all because no one cared about slavery at that time and only cared about their status and position in government. But, William Wilberforce represented the lowest class of the people and brought their own agenda to them so Parliament knew what was going on in slavery practices of Britain. He brought justice and brought God's value whegre he created all men equal. I think those are part of his greatest works.
4. Has he inspired you to do anything, to take any kind of action?
He impacted me in the most powerful way to change the world from where you currently are because it doesn't matter who you are or where you're from. Education also doesn't matter along with family background as long as you have a clear sense of destiny of what God has called you to do in this life.