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30-hour Famine: Living with hunger
Was America built on religious values?
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Life of `wonderful orator' detailed in book |
Re-released to coincide with the move `Amazing
Grace,' the book `To Live Free' is penned by local man |
By Schellene Clendenin, Newberg
Graphic reporter
E-mail Schellene at sclendenin@eaglenewspapers.com
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When Lon Fendall first read
about William Wilberforce, it was in a book written by Wilberforce
with a foreword by former Sen. Mark O. Hatfield.
In the foreword, Hatfield discussed some of the similarities he saw
between himself and Wilberforce. Fendall, director of the centers
for Global Studies, and Peace and Justice at George Fox University,
was intrigued.
Wilberforce, born in 1759 in England, will be the focus of the
movie “Amazing Grace,” based on his dedicating more than two decades
of his life to abolish the slave trade in Great Britain’s colonies.
Fendall
was so impressed by what he read, he planned to write a book about
Wilberforce that would be an accessible biography for young readers
who had never heard of the man whose life’s work was the precursor
to the antislavery movement in America.
“I was sensing that I should carve out time to do some writing,” he
said. “I’ve never regretted pursuing my interest.”
He named the book “To Live Free: William Wilberforce —
Experience the Man, the Mission and the Legacy.”
The movie, which details the 20 years of Wilberforce’s life as he
worked to abolish slavery, was released Feb. 23, a significant date
as it was exactly two centuries prior that the British Parliament
voted to abolish slavery.
“That is why this year and day is so important,” Fendall said.
It was due to the movie’s release that Fendall’s publisher
repackaged Fendall’s book, first published in 2001.
When William Wilberforce was a young man in the late 18th Century,
he, like many of his ilk had no real passion that gave him purpose.
A Christian man, when Wilberforce turned 21-years-old he took on the
20-year cause to abolish slavery after joining his friend William
Pitt in parliament.
“He had the persistence and stubbornness to keep going when normal
people would give up,” Fendall said. “All of those qualities wrapped
up together to make him successful.”
Fendall enjoyed the movie and said it is as true to Wilberforce’s
life as can be, but recommends reading his or others’ books that
offer details on Wilberforce not available in the movie.
“Naturally I am biased but I think it’s a good book, a short
version of his life from birth to death,” he said. “I focus on what
he did in life, not only the slavery, because he also worked on the
Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.”
The book is available at Chapter’s Books and Barclay Press for
$9.95 and will be the subject of Barclay’s March on-line
conversation. |
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From
Feb. 24, 2007, Newberg Graphic
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