Classic
The Pilgrim's Progress
by John Bunyan
Summary
The everyman figure Christian flees the City of Destruction and journeys toward the Celestial City, facing trials at the Slough of Despond, Vanity Fair, and Doubting Castle along the way. Bunyan writes the journey as an extended allegory of Christian salvation, giving abstract virtues and vices the shape of people and places. Its clear plain style made complex theology accessible to ordinary readers.
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Historical Context & Significance
Bunyan drafted much of the book while imprisoned for preaching without a license, and it appeared in 1678 to immediate popularity among English Protestants. For generations it stood alongside the Bible as one of the most widely read books in the English speaking world.