Oh come on, no-one has done Pilgrim's Progress yet? Okay, here we go, a quickie only.

A great moral allegory by John Bunyan, written while in Bedford prison for his non-conformist beliefs in about 1667-72, and published in 1678. A second part, written after his release, appeared in 1684.

It is the tale of Christian, who is persuaded by Evangelist to abandon his everyday life and seek the light. He encounters many obstacles, such as the Slough of Despond, Mr Worldly-Wiseman, the Vanity Fair, and the monstrous Apollyon. The second part concerns the travails of his wife Christina on a similar pilgrimage.

It is all delivered in the similitude of a dream.

In the early 16th century, Henry VIII broke ties with the Roman Catholic Church and formed the Church of England, for which he was head religious authority. During his reign, Henry VIII mandated that all English citizens pay him tithes and belong to and worship only in his church. This continued throughout the reigns of a series of Henry VIII's successors. Many English citizens grew dissatisfied with the corruption and called for a change and a restoration of purity in the church that they once found in the Bible. These people who yearned for the essentials of Christianity were called the Puritans.

In 1678 John Bunyan wrote Part I of The Pilgrim's Progress with this Puritan zeal while imprisoned for refusing to recognize the Church of England as his own. Six years later he wrote Part II. While the story is an evangelical Christian allegory written with strong religious views for theological purposes, it offers remarkable insight into human vices and virtues by personifying them as living and speaking particular individuals. Bunyan does so by stripping away particularities and illustrating one-dimensional characters in a style simple enough for a broad audience in that age. Even if readers cannot relate to the ideas within The Pilgrim's Progress, it has historic value in signifying the condition of religion at that place and time.

The following is a combined effort between Laura Elizabeth and myself. She has gracefully taken on completing the rest of the book from Vanity Fair onward.

THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS
FROM THIS WORLD
TO THAT WHICH IS TO COME;
DELIVERED UNDER THE SIMILITUDE OF A DREAM.

BY JOHN BUNYAN

Author's Apology for his Book

PART I

____________________________________

Author's Apology for the Second Book
Pilgrimage of Christiana and her children

PART II

  • THE FIRST STAGE
  • THE SECOND STAGE
  • THE THIRD STAGE
  • THE FOURTH STAGE
  • THE FIFTH STAGE
  • THE SIXTH STAGE
  • THE SEVENTH STAGE
  • THE EIGHTH STAGE

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