In 1678, John Bunyan’s allegorical book, The Pilgrim’s Progress was published and became an immediate best-seller. The popularity of Bunyan’s book has lasted through the centuries since its original publication. In fact, it is second only to the Bible in circulation throughout the world.
Unfortunately, despite it’s literary, cultural, and Christian merit. Many people in today’s society of cultural and literary ignorance know nothing about Bunyan’s book and often confuse the author with a folk-figure from American history.
What The Pilgrim’s Progress Is Not
- The Pilgrim’s Progress is not the story about how the Pilgrim’s traveled from Europe to America.
- Paul Bunyan, the hero of some fun and ridiculous American folktales, did not write The Pilgrim’s Progress, rather, a godly man named John Bunyan wrote it while in imprisoned for his religious beliefs.
- The Pilgrim’s Progress is not an allegory intended for children. While Bunyan wrote it as a simple allegory to make it more readily accessible to the less-educated population (many of whom were his parishioner), the themes and issues it deals with are adult and include suicidal depression, temptation by prostitutes, and the greed for money.
- Bruce Horner, who wrote An Evangelical Commentary on The Pilgrim’s Progress: Themes and Issues, suggest that the book is not a good subject for academic studies such as literary criticism, historical investigation, psychology, political theory or the study of Puritan theology.
- The Pilgrim’s Progress is not intended as a gospel tract. According to Horner, only 10.5% of the story deals with conversion. The rest deals with Christian’s journey. Bunyan intended for the story of Christian and Christiana’s journey to be an encouragement to believers and to stir the apathetic to take action and progress in their Christian growth and life.
- The Pilgrim’s Progress is not just a moral novel. Bunyan uses incidents in Christian’s journey to deal with theological issues and explain Biblical truths.
What The Pilgrim’s Progress Is
- According to Horner, there are four themes that are repeated throughout the book.
- Christians are saved through Christ’s death. Christ’s death is a substitution for the death that all sinners deserve. Christ’s death is the virtue through which believers are sanctified and justified.
- Sanctification is a process, which occurs throughout the believer’s journey, beginning with the transforming power of conversion at the Wicket-gate to the believer’s glorification at the Celestial City.
- The only safe refuge for believers in this world is in church fellowship with fellow believers under the headship of a pastor.
- The believer can hope for deliverance from the evil and trials of this life and for the glory of experiencing Christ’s presence when they finally reach the Celestial City.
- The Pilgrim’s Progress is “a Montage of Bible truth.” (Horner 8) The book is liberally sprinkled with footnoted Biblical references. However, in addition to direct references to scripture, it also contains many implicit references which are accessible to Biblically literate believers.
Longevity Based on Merit
One of the reasons for The Pilgrim’s Progress’s continued popularity is that it is readable at many levels. Horner divides the readability levels into three categories: basic, biblical, and doctrinal. Each category has its own specific appeal to readers. What is particularly nice about these various categories is that the book can be read repeatedly and the reader can walk away with fresh insight and enjoyment every time.
Why Read The Pilgrim’s Progress
There are many reasons to read The Pilgrim’s Progress. In addition, to discovering and more fully appreciating what the book is according to the list above, reading it will enlighten the reader of literature to many references that may otherwise be obscure or incomprehensible. The popular children’s book Little Women refers to Bunyan’s work countless times in both direct and indirect references.
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