The Pilgrim’s Progress

This is one of those novels everyone reckons you should read at least once before you die. I finally caved and got myself a copy and forced myself to read it. John Bunyan is very good at creating allegory that would strike terror into the hearts of the peasantry of a bygone era. As Christian determinedly moves on from the Slough of Despond to his final destination of the Celestial City, we are treated with a glimpse of what it must be like to be extremely religious and take the words from the Bible seriously.

Bunyan does us a service by creating a time machine which showcases the unique religious terror that plagued almost the entire West just a little while ago, combined with a slavish obedience to the teachings of the Church and a strict interpretation of the Bible. Bunyan shows us just what happens to those who stray from the straight and narrow path of God’s teachings, in various quagmires on the road to Salvation. The Pilgrim’s Progress is supernal religiosity juxtaposed against fantastical imaginings, with a heavily moralistic bent. Picture the lads of 1650 playing with their toys as their mothers threatened them with the dangers of the Doubting Castle and the Atheist.

Perhaps it needs another reading before it can be placed in the bibliographical pantheon.

ISBN: 0-451-52833-6