Church leaders in Bristol have given permission for historic stained glass windows that commemorate Edward Colston to be replaced with windows that show Jesus depicted ‘in multiple ethnicities’, and with refugees in a boat.
The announcement of the ruling by the Consistory Court of the Diocese of Bristol has been made on the third anniversary of the toppling of the statue of slave trader Edward Colston, back on June 7, 2020.
A year later, leaders of St Mary Redcliffe Church announced a competition to come up with designs for replacement stained glass windows, and in September 2022, a local junior doctor in Bristol, Ealish Swift, won that contest with a series of images showing a ‘non-white’ Jesus in a variety of situations.
Read next: Jesus joins the Bristol Bus Boycott to replace Colston stained glass window
Now, with today's announcement that permission for the windows to be replaced has been granted by the Church of England’s court in Bristol, new versions of Dr Swift's winning designs have been revealed, and these are the ones that will now be made and installed at the historic church - which has a 19th century spire that makes it still the tallest building in Bristol.
The stained glass windows that were removed date from the Victorian era, and were part of a so-called ‘Cult of Colston’ that grew up in Bristol at that time, as the ruling elite constructed a narrative of Edward Colston as a huge benefactor for the city.
The old windows shared Colston’s family motto ‘go thou and do likewise’ - a biblical quote from the parable of the ‘Good Samaritan’, and the new windows share a different quote from the same passage: ‘And who is my neighbour?’
Dr Swift came up with four winning designs for the four windows, which a spokesperson for St Mary Redcliffe Church said referred to Bristol’s rich multicultural past and present.
“The new panels depict Jesus in multiple ethnicities to counter the anglo-centric narrative of ‘white Jesus’,” he said. “These are the first images of a non-white Jesus to be installed in St Mary Redcliffe Church and join two other windows which feature non-white characters.”
“In order to actually install the new windows, the church had to get permission from The Consistory Court of The Diocese of Bristol. As part of its submission of evidence the church presented information about Edward Colston and made the case that continued commemoration of a slave-trader though stained glass containing the phrase ‘go thou and do likewise’ was inappropriate,” he added.
In his judgement Justin Gau, the Chancellor of the Diocese of Bristol, said: “The Church of England and the historical behaviour of this parish church in excusing the life of Colston have a journey of repentance to make. To excuse or ignore the slave trade is a sin.
“To encourage parishioners to look at a memorial to a slave trader and to be encourage to ‘Go thou and do likewise’ is not only grotesque but entirely contrary to the Gospel command to love one another,” he added.
Ealish Swift said she was delighted to win the competition to design the new windows. “I am deeply honoured that my design has been chosen for this wonderful space that means so much to me,” she said.
“I’m thrilled that my design seemed to resonate so much with the local community and I hope everyone will come to visit to see the final piece and experience everything this wonderful church, and community, has to offer.”
The vicar of St Mary Redcliffe, Canon Dan Tyndall, said the toppling of the statue of Edward Colston in 2020 turned an ‘international spotlight onto Bristol and its entangled history’. Three years earlier, in 2017, there were protests outside the church and the police were called as St Mary Redcliffe marked International Modern Slavery Day on the same day as holding its annual service commemorating Edward Colston, with local primary and secondary school children being given a ‘Colston bun’, and a sermon about the flawed virtues of Edward Colston.
But now, not only does the service no longer happen, the Colston Society which staged it has been disbanded, and now the stained glass windows honouring Colston will be replaced - all since the statue was toppled in 2020.
“The toppling of Edward Colston turned an international spotlight onto Bristol and its entangled history profiting, as it most certainly did, from human trafficking,” said Canon Tyndall. “The opportunity to reimagine how we can tell the story of the Good Samaritan was grasped enthusiastically by the church.
"By then we had already laid aside a cope with a Moor’s Head symbol, a modern nativity set had been commissioned to replace a staid Victorian model and we had welcomed the artist collective 'alldaybreakfast' with their installation on journeys, helping us reflect on both modern and historic slavery.
“As part of our response we have grown our social action programme and now run Redcliffe Community Hub in a local shop unit, providing information, advice, clinics and, throughout the winter, a warm space in one of the most deprived neighbourhoods in the country,” he added.
Read next:
- An 'Empire of Hell' - Bristol's dark role in the convict trade revealed in new book
- Bristol's original Colston Society to disband after 275 years
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