(novel, 1678)
There are those who accuse Christians of embracing a pie-in-the-sky philosophy that promises an avoidance of the harsh realities of life; they declare Christianity is an attempt to wish away all the pain and struggle. While there might be some truth to this in some cases, in John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress this is most definitely not true. For the pilgrim in Bunyan’s classic book, the life of faith is sometimes less a comfort than a battle—a war against the forces of darkness, against one’s own sinful nature, and against a hostile world.
If the influence of a book is measured by the number of copies it has sold, The Pilgrim’s Progress is second only to the Bible and Mao’s Little Red Book in this reckoning. Bunyan’s allegory about the Christian life was written with such imagination and passion that it has continued to be a formative book in the lives of countless Christians. With its combination of psychological insight, spiritual wisdom, and unforgettable characterizations, it has given believers memorable metaphors for how they can think about their faith. Though it was published in 1678, we still use phrases from the book, even if many of us don’t know that they originated in The Pilgrim’s Progress: “the slough of despond,” “vanity fair,” “muckraker,” and “worldly wise.” And because this story probed much deeper than normal allegories, many literary historians consider it to be either the first novel ever written or at least a very important step on the road toward the development of the novel as a literary genre.
While Bunyan was in dead earnest about the message of his book, he leavened his storytelling with gentleness and humor. Purposefully written in his simplest prose, Bunyan sought to create an allegorical parable of the Christian life that could be read, understood, and enjoyed by people from every strata of society—a book that would tell the truth in unpretentious, homey, and straightforward prose. While as an allegory it can be read on a literal level, it also contains layers of deeper meanings just beneath the surface of the tale, making those truths a little more palatable to the hearer. In the introduction Bunyan invites careful meditation on his book: “Turn up my metaphors, and do not fail: / There if thou seekest them, such things thou’lt find / As will be helpful to an honest mind.”
The Pilgrim’s Progress tells the story of a man named Christian who awakens to his own sense of sinfulness and guilt before God. He undertakes a dangerous journey through many trials, temptations, and distractions of all sorts as he makes his way toward the Celestial City, his final destination, where God dwells and salvation can be experienced in full. The characters he meets along the way reflect the vices and virtues that they represent, such as Obstinate, Mr. Legality, Mr. Great-Heart, Faithful, Little-Faith, and Ignorance.
Bunyan’s book is not primarily a story to teach readers about the way to find salvation, for Christian’s encounter with the cross, where his burden of sin rolls away, occurs fairly early in the book. Instead, it is a tale about the spiritual journey, the inner and outer struggles and temptations a believer in Jesus will face as they walk the path of life. When the backpack of sin falls from Pilgrim’s shoulders, his journey has just begun. He must make his way past many dangers and distractions and challenges, struggling mightily all the way but empowered by God’s grace, until he finally arrives at his ultimate home, the Celestial City. There are many truths to be revealed along the way. For example, in one scene Christian and his companion Hopeful are imprisoned in the bowels of Doubting Castle, until Christian awakens to an important revelation. “What a fool, am I, thus to lie in a stinking dungeon, when I may as well walk at liberty. I have a key in my bosom, called promise, that will open any lock in Doubting Castle.” This revelation allows Christian and Hopeful to walk out of the prison and leave despair behind them.
For centuries this book has been cherished by readers as a guide for navigating the challenges of the Christian life. Its topics remain relevant for today’s reader: the danger of lusting after riches, the hazards of pride and religious hypocrisy, the struggle with overwhelming despair and depression, the battle with doubt and uncertainty, and the importance of making the right choices in even the smallest of matters. It reminds the reader of how essential it is to listen to wise counselors, and points toward the Bible as the greatest source of wisdom for living. Much of the book’s success comes from the fact that readers see themselves and their own internal struggles in the story. For many, The Pilgrim’s Progress is a mirror in which they can examine their own soul and be instructed in how they can change, which is exactly what Bunyan intended.
Born near Bedford, England, in 1628, John Bunyan received only a limited formal education, probably two to four years, before he settled down to follow his father’s trade as a tinker, a repairer of metal household utensils. It was a humble beginning, but when his life got caught in the cross fire of the religious struggles that raged in England in the seventeenth century, he emerged as one of the most popular authors in the English language.
Bunyan enlisted in the Parliamentary army at age sixteen, which represented the Nonconformist party in the civil war that divided England between the Puritan Nonconformists (largely Calvinist) and the Anglicans. The Anglicans had been out of power, but came back into their own again when King Charles II, whose own father had been executed by the Nonconformists, was restored to the throne. Bunyan had a very close shave with death during the hostilities, and after the civil war ended he returned to his life as a tinker, but with a growing sense of spiritual unease. He was tormented by a deep sense of guilt, blasphemous thoughts, and by dreams and visions that rose unbidden in his mind. When he read Martin Luther’s commentary on the book of Galatians, he came to the same conclusion that Luther had reached many years before—that his salvation was not based upon his own righteousness and good works but on the saving grace of Christ. This resulted in what he termed a “merciful working of God upon my soul.”1
Filled with zeal and enthusiasm for this newly embraced understanding of faith, Bunyan joined a Baptist church and began preaching the message of justification by faith alone. This ran afoul of new laws that were intended to keep the Nonconformist faith from spreading too quickly, as Bunyan did not have the required license to preach. He was imprisoned in the Bedford jail for three months in an attempt by the authorities to quiet this firebrand preacher. But as soon as he was released, he went right back to preaching. He was arrested again, and this time served twelve years. When given the opportunity to recant and obey the law, he was frank in his response: “If I were out of prison today, I would preach the gospel again tomorrow, by the help of God.”2 He was finally released when a new proclamation by the king greatly expanded religious rights. But three years later, the king changed his mind and rescinded the proclamation, and Bunyan again found himself in jail, though this time he only served three more months, as his popularity as a writer and preacher had become so great that his adversaries decided it was no longer advisable to hold him.
All told, Bunyan spent almost a third of his adult life in jail, but while serving his several sentences he made the most of his time. He read books such as Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, he memorized large portions of Scripture, and he began writing. Taking pen in hand, he produced at least fifty-eight different works, including a great number of theological tracts, devotional meditations, collections of verse, an autobiography entitled Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners (1666), and allegorical fiction of which The Pilgrim’s Progress is his most famous. It was followed by a sequel in 1684 that tells the story of how Christian’s wife and children tread a similar but different path to the Celestial City. Bunyan’s intimate knowledge of the Bible is evident on every page of every book he ever wrote. “I was never out of the Bible,” he wrote, “either by reading or meditation.”3
Bunyan continued as the pastor of the Bedford Church until he died in 1688 after becoming drenched in a rainstorm and contracting a chill. He insisted on preaching despite his ill health, and the chill turned into a fatal fever.
In his works, John Bunyan emphasized the individual nature of salvation, urging that each must choose for themselves to follow the way of Christ—a way that The Pilgrim’s Progress reminds us is filled with obstacles, temptations, struggles, and great perils. Many of these are the result of the devil’s work, but others are the result of the fallenness of humanity that leaves us blind to the truth. Bunyan was not a moralist wagging his finger at the reader, but a fellow struggler who pointed them toward the grace that made all the difference in his own life. He pictured the Christian life as one of intense ongoing struggle, a spiritual combat. Becoming a Christian doesn’t mean that your troubles end. It means that you face a different set of troubles—the difference being that you don’t face them alone.