Next to the Bible, The Pilgrim's Progress has probably been more widely read than any other book in the English language, and rightfully so. It is considered by many critics to be the greatest allegory in any language. And to think that it was written by a jailed tinker who received very little formal education.
This classic allegory tells of a Christian's epic journey toward heaven and the many temptations and distractions he encounters along the way. With a burden on his back, Christian reads a book that tells him that the city in which he and his family dwell will be set ablaze. Christian flees from the City of Destruction and journeys through the Slough of Despond, the Valley of Humiliation, the Valley of the Shadow of Death, Vanity Fair, Doubting Castle, and the Delectable Mountains before finally reaching the Celestial City.
About the Author :
John Bunyan (1628-1688) started out as an itinerant worker and a soldier. When he began to have religious experiences, he joined a Christian fellowship and soon began preaching. His discussions with the followers of George Fox inspired his first book, Some Gospel Truths Opened, published in 1656. In 1660, he was arrested while preaching. During twelve years of imprisonment in the county jail, he wrote several works, including Profitable Meditations, Praying in the Spirit, The Holy City, and Grace Abounding. He was released after the Declaration of Indulgence of 1672, under which he became a licensed preacher and pastor of the church to which he belonged; but in 1673 the Declaration was canceled, and Bunyan was sent back to prison for six months. During this time he wrote his most famous work, the epic Christian allegory The Pilgrim's Progress. His defined religious outlook is balanced in his writing by an almost modern realism and psychological insight.
Simon Vance is an award-winning actor and an AudioFile Golden Voice with over fifty Earphones Awards and thirteen prestigious Audie Awards. He was named Booklist's very first Voice of Choice in 2008 and an AudioFile Best Voice of 2009.
Review :
"Next to the Bible, the book I value most is John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. I believe I have read it through at least a hundred times. It is a volume of which I never seem to tire; and the secret of its freshness is that it is so largely compiled from the Scriptures. It is really Biblical teaching put into the form of a simple yet very striking allegory."
-- "Charles H. Spurgeon"
"The most influential religious book ever written in the English language."
-- "Alexander M. Witherspoon, professor of English at Yale University"
"This is the great merit of the book, that the most cultivated man cannot find anything to praise more highly, and the child knows nothing more amusing."
-- "Samuel Johnson"
"Written in homely yet dignified biblical prose, the work has some of the qualities of a folktale, and in its humor and realistic portrayals of Mr. Worldly Wiseman, Faithful, Hopeful, Pliant, and Obstinate, it anticipates the eighteenth-century novel."
-- "Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature"
