“The Pilgrim’s Progress from this world, to That which is to com: Delivered under the Similitude of a DREAM Wherein is Discovered, the manner of his fetting out, His Dangerous Journey; And safe arrival as the Desired Countrey. I have used Similitudes, Hos. 12.10.” By John Bunyan
The Pilgrim’s Progress is a Christian allegory that follows the journey of its protagonist, Christian, from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City. Along the way, Christian encounters various challenges, temptations, and allies and Bunyan illustrates the struggles and triumphs of the Christian life. Bunyan began writing The Pilgrim’s Progress while imprisoned for his nonconformist religious beliefs to reflect his own experiences and to further his own spiritual development.
For the purposes of this blog, I will be examining the unabridged edition, first published in 1678 which includes the journeys of Christian, his wife Christiana, and their four sons, Matthew, James, Samuel, and Joseph. The main focus of this blog is my journey through Bunyan’s story, the main themes that we find, and how Christian and Christina’s spiritual challenges and progress still apply today!
Bunyan’s Apology
Purpose: In The Pilgrim’s Progress, Bunyan aims to tell religious truths indirectly and address his critics who complain that religion should not tolerate storytelling. Bunyan explains that in The New Testament, we find many parables, or indirect illustrations, to communicate its truths. In his classic way, Bunyan communicates his truths through the narrator’s dreams; he uses the “unreal” to deliver a very real message.
The Journey
In Pilgrim’s, we find Christian’s experience with the Interpreter to be a key element in the theme of salvation. Christian realizes that he cannot get to heaven by just obeying a few moral rules. Instead, he must figure out how to understand meanings behind objects and events.
Christian doesn’t know that the fire represents the believer’s faith and water represents the devil and in the dusty parlor, the dust symbolizes sin, and the sweeper is the law of the Old Testament. Christian must be guided to these meanings throughout his journey. In this, Christian is like the reader of The Pilgrim’s Progress who must be guided to find meanings behind the obvious layers of the story.
I love that the focus of this story is the journey of the Christian—not just the character Christian, but for each one of us as believers. Like Odysseus, Christian’s journey takes him away from his home, through unfamiliar places, through a “spiritual development”. As I look at my own journey, my spiritual development has been challenged many times. I am thankful that even through these challenging times, I have still made much “progress”.
Solitude
Throughout Christian’s journey, he is alone. Bunyan claims that his solitude is a necessary aspect of his Protestant faith; that salvation comes not through church attendance and group ritual but through private prayer and introspection. Bunyan shows the reader that faith is individual, so Christian must be alone to practice it. This is a pivotal point for readers, especially wives, as we cannot live out our faith solely through our husband’s experiences and knowledge of God. We must travel our own personal journey, personal salvation, and personal growth through Bible Study, personal ministries. This is primary.
How important is solitude in our faith? How important is community in our faith through worship, Bible Study, and gathering?
Characters
One of my favorite parts of The Pilgrim’s Progress is the names of Bunyan’s characters and settings:Simple, Sloth, and Presumption Hypocrisy, Vain Glory, Piety, Prudence, and Charity, Faithful, Talkative to name a few. The names of Bunyan’s characters relate to their overarching personality and significance in the journeys of our protagonists. I love using characterization as it is easy to remember their names! The children’s version does a great job of representing them through illustrations.
God’s Will vs God’s Grace
Christian experiences the doctrine of will vs grace in his pilgrimage. Will is the exertion required to find faith and master oneself. Grace is what comes without trying to get it, a pure gift from heaven. Christian’s burden is easily removed, even with no effort at all. How is this? The sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross made both of these possible in our Christian walk.
What is one way you are obeying God’s will in your life? How have you recently experienced God’s grace in your life? Is it possible to receive God’s grace when we are living out of His will?
Outward appearance and Inward Experience
The character “Formalist” tells Christian that the outward form or appearance of faith as being more important than the inward experience. He feels that getting to a destination is all that matters.
What are some ways that we rely on the outward appearance of faith? What are some ways that we live the inward experience of faith? Are both ways important in the Christian faith?
Hypocrisy believes in saying the “right” thing but doing otherwise. Christian understands his journey as far more of an inward progress than a geographical one. He knows truth matters more to his progress than mere motion does.
Past Experiences
Any appearance or remembrance of the past threatens to stall Christian’s spiritual development. The past returns to haunt Christian in the figure of Faithful, his former neighbor who appears with gossip about the old hometown. Nostalgia is dangerous, Bunyan cautions. This point is emphasized later when Christian and Faithful are leaving the plain of Ease and see the pillar that used to be Lot’s wife. Christian has staked everything on completing his journey. Unlike Lot’s wife, Christian seems strongly resistant to sentimental memories of his former friends and family. In fact, he does not even ask about his family’s welfare. Only when asked at the Palace Beautiful does Christian shed some tears over his family.
I am very nostalgic. I love to reminisce about the past, especially times when my girls were growing up. I treasure photos of these times past and look at them often.
When does nostalgia, or thinking back become a hinderance? Is it better to always live in the present? Is there a good balance?
Conclusion of Book I: The end of Christian’s journey
“Now just as the Gates were opened to let in the men, I look’d in after them; and behold, the City shone like the Sun; the Streets were paved with Gold…saying Holy, holy, holy is the Lord (164).”–Christian
By learning from the mistakes of the pilgrims he’s met on the journey, Christian stays on the right path toward salvation. Christian’s strong faith and belief that the Celestial City exists pulls him out of the river.
The narrator’s conclusion gives a final emphasis of interpretation running throughout The Pilgrim’s Progress. The Interpreter warned Christian at the outset about the importance of interpreting signs and events correctly and spoke darkly about the dangers of misinterpreting. The narrator delivers a similar warning here. He says that one must not play with the surface details of his story but look behind the surface to the essential meaning. The difference is that now the one who must interpret is no longer Christian, but the reader. The reader takes on the role of a reader of meanings that Christian once held. Christian’s quest for understanding is the reader’s hands now.
“Now Reader I have told my Dream to thee; See if thou canst interpret it to me. Or to thy self, or Neighbors…” (the Great Commission!)
BOOK II
Introduction
In his introduction, Bunyan addresses his second book, known as Part II of The Pilgrim’s Progress. He orders the book to follow in the footsteps of Part I, embarking on a pilgrimage of its own. Bunyan calls the book by the name of Christiana and thereby identifying it with Christian’s wife, Christiana.
The narrator recounts his follow-up dream about Christian’s wife and children left behind in the City of Destruction. This time he dreams of an elderly man named Sagacity, who visits to talk about the City of Destruction, and asks whether Sagacity has heard of Christian. Sagacity says that he has and that Christian resides now in the Celestial City. The narrator also asks Sagacity about Christian’s wife, Christiana, and their four sons. Sagacity answers that he knows they packed up and embarked on a journey to find Christian and be reunited. Sagacity now acts as a narrator and offers to tell the story of Christiana’s pilgrimage.
Theme : Women
The major difference between the journeys in Parts I and II is that Part II portrays a female point of view. Aside from the old man Sagacity who introduces the tale, the main characters are two women, Christiana and Mercy. Part II shows how a women’s pilgrimage will be different in important ways from the man’s pilgrimage in Part I. Bunyan introduces elements into Part II that were absent from the male-dominated Part I.
I love this! As Bunyan gives up the worldview through Christiana’s eyes and perspective: we see relationships blossom, equality in sharing provisions, and her physical, mental, and emotional needs being met–unlike Christian who mainly focused on his soul. Every decision Christiana makes must involve her children, their spouses and grandchildren [later], and her companion Mercy.
Christiana and Mercy are two women who have concerns that would have been stereotypically feminine in the seventeenth century. Since a woman could not be expected to travel safely alone, Christiana must hire Mercy as a servant. This introduces a complication since pilgrims’ theoretical equality before God seems contradicted by one working for another. It is interesting that Christian left his wife and family to pursue his journey without any criticism. However, the character of Christiana has been criticized greatly for encouraging her daughters-in-laws to leave their children behind as the journey was arduous and too complicated in spiritual matters for them.
Christiana’s journey contrasts Christian’s
Unlike her husband, Christiana reflects on the past and looks forward to the future throughout her pilgrimage. Christian hardly ever looked back on his previous life in the City of Destruction. His focus was on the straightforward path through the present. Yet Christiana follows a path that constantly refers back to the past and ahead to the future. She follows in her husband’s footsteps, so she has a lot to reflect on and look forward to when coming across some of Christian’s landmarks.
Where do we find an example in the Bible where the wife is a help-mate to her husband? Where can we find an example in the Bible where the husband is a strong leader for his wife and household?
Marriage and Family
The marriage of two of Christiana’s sons to Gaius’s two daughters emphasizes the marriage of classical and Christian marriage themes with The Pilgrim’s Progress. By showing her sons now as young adults of marriageable age, Bunyan displays that the pilgrims’ journey is their life itself. Children grow up and generations shift.
Why do you believe God created the institution of marriage? How can we glorify Christ through our marriages?
Conclusion
“I see myself now at the end of my Journey; my toilsome Days are ended. I am going to see that Head that was Crowned with Thorns, and that Face which was split upon, for me (313).”--Christiana
The pilgrims arrive in the land of Beulah, home of the Celestial City. The locals clothe the pilgrims in fresh garments. The local children bring them perfumed bouquets. A special-delivery letter arrives for Christiana announcing that the Master expects to see her before him within ten days. The messenger gives Christiana a token to assure her of his legitimacy: an arrow that enters her heart and spreads love there. Christiana visits each of the pilgrims and bids them farewell. She must also say farewell to her children.
Each of the remaining pilgrims also receives a special post from the Master. The detail about Christiana and the others meeting their maker suggests that their final destination is death.
As a Mother and Grandmother, this part was very hard for me to read. I know it will be a reality one day to say goodbye to my family when I die, and even though I believe that my eternal life with Jesus will be immeasurable above anything I can imagine, this section gave me pause.
Unlike Christian in Part I, Christiana’s group not only arrives in the Celestial City but die and meet their maker, the Master, who seems to be God himself. They fulfill their pilgrimage more dramatically and solemnly than Christian did at the end of Part I. Christian arrived at his joyous destination but without any mention of an encounter with God nor with her husband Christian. While Christian’s tale ended with his heavenly joy, Bunyan suggests in Part II that this joy comes after life is over.
Work Cited
John Bunyan. The Pilgrim’s Progress. London:Penguin Books Ltd. First published 1678.
My French Quest 