Pilgrim’s Progress

Author:

John Bunyan

Edition:

Oxford World’s Classics, Oxford University Press; Reissue edition (April 15, 2009)

Summary:

The Pilgrim’s Progress has long been the best read and most enduringly cherished religious allegory in the English language. Published in 1678, the work passed through eleven editions during Bunyan’s lifetime. … Bunyan develops his allegory in The Pilgrim’s Progress within the framework of a dream-vision. He depicts the steps of the traveler who seeks “the everlasting prize” on his pilgrimage from his lost state to his arrival in the New Jerusalem. The central character in Bunyan’s allegory is Christian, who flees his family and the City of Destruction to begin his adventuresome pilgrimage to the Celestial City. Along the way he wallows in Slough of Despond, contends with Mr. Worldy-Wiseman, and loses his burden at the Cross.

– Beatice Batson, John Bunyan: The Pilgrim’s Progress. In Louise Cowan & Os Guinness (Eds.), Invitation to the Classics.