John Bunyan: Author of The Pilgrim’s Progress

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Behind the master of allegory was a marriage made in heaven.

John Bunyan would never underestimate the power of a godly woman. For among his wife’s possessions were two of her family’s religious books, reading material that changed Bunyan’s life. A tinker by trade, Bunyan nevertheless began to preach in 1657, drawing enthusiastic crowds that were hungry for a message unencumbered by Anglican ritual.

Such preaching was to land him in prison, but his time there was well spent. The doubts, temptations, and hopes of his own spiritual journey were put on paper, a journey that was later to be traveled by one searching sojourner in The Pilgrim’s Progress. Since its publication in 1678, Bunyan’s landmark work has been translated into hundreds of languages and lauded as the quintessential Puritan allegory.

More than 300 years have passed since Bunyan’s death but his clear-sighted depiction of the human quest remains valid. We each continue to stumble along the paths of our own spiritual pilgrimage propelled and upheld by divine grace.