Guest Post by Mike Haywood
Question.....
What is the link between the famous hymn “Amazing Grace” and the Global
Financial crisis? Answer.... Debt slavery and 3 paintings that hang in an
English church.
John Newton
(1725 -1807) wrote the words to “Amazing Grace”, one of the most beloved hymns
of all time. Few people know that Newton was the captain of a slave ship for
many years. He had a dramatic religious conversion on board a storm tossed ship
in the middle of the Atlantic. The
words of the hymn refer to that moment on the ship.
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
I
once was lost, but now am found,
Was
blind but now I see.
Newton went on
to become a leading influence on the abolition of slavery in Britain.
But we still
have debt slavery today. http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/series/modern-day-slavery-in-focus
Mike Haywood
painted a triptych in 2007, entitled "Amazing Grace”,which portrays John
Newton's dramatic religious conversion. But it is also an allegory for global
debt slavery, and was painted before the 2008 financial crash.
The triptych is
over 10 feet wide.
·
The left hand canvas shows the depths of Newton's
despair during the storm.
·
The central canvas depicts Newton's
ship in the violent storm.
·
The right hand canvas depicts his moment of
redemption.
The paintings
are an allegory of the current state of the World. For instance,
......in canvas
1, the empty hourglass that Newton is holding is inscribed with the words "Homo
sapiens"
......in the
Main canvas the ship's name of "Greyhound" has been obscured slightly so that
the word "Gaia" is visible
.... the chained
World in the 3rd canvas is upside-down and Newton is trying to break the chains
of debt
“Debt is the
slavery of the free”…. Publilius Syrus, Roman author, 1st century
B.C.
