First Part - The Life of John Bunyan - The Pilgrim's ProgressWednesday, 7 PM, January 8th

 Bunyan understood the Slough of Despond. The fun part comes from the names of those who left Christian and went back.

 Bunyan loved Luther's Galatians, unlike the great and wise leaders of Lutherdom today. They teach against Luther's great book.

Biography of John Bunyan

The origin of The Pilgrim’s Progress defies logic. We would expect the greatest of English classics, after the King James Bible, to come from someone with an excellent bloodline, education, and scholarly surroundings. He was born in Bedfordshire, England, in humble circumstances, around 1628. His father was a tinker, someone who repaired and fashioned metal objects. His parents were very poor, but they sent John to a free school, to improve his lot in life, but he was an inattentive student.

His early behavior was legendary, but for the wrong reasons:

John’s ungodliness was as advanced as it was offensive. Few could equal him in cursing, swearing, lying, and blaspheming. He was the ringleader of the village immoralities – a great sin-breeder, infecting all the youth of the neighborhood with all manner of youthful vanities. He cared nothing for Holy Scripture, preferring a ballad or the local news.[1]

He was already a soldier when he was 16 years old. Most likely he fought for the King, which is ironic. The restoration of the monarchy led to his later imprisonments. Meanwhile, he was tortured by his wanton behavior and feelings of doom. Friends suggested marriage and he wed. We do not know the young woman’s name, but she brought two books with her – The Practice of Piety, by Lewis Bayly and Arthur Dent’s The Plain Man’s Pathway to Heaven. She helped him learn to read again, but he remained fixed between some adherence and his bad habits. This continued for some time.

Bunyan came across a copy of Luther’s commentary on the book of Galatians. It was the most well-suited thing imaginable for Bunyan at this time, for Luther was a man who had similar passion and emotional contrasts. No other book was ever so precious to him, except the Word of God. Bunyan’s turmoil continued, and it is told in Grace Abounding.[2]

During this time Bunyan lost his first wife and also moved gradually into serving as a church deacon, then pastor in 1657. His church was Nonconformist, which meant they were independent of the Church of England.

Bunyan’s change from his old days was so complete that people gave credit to God’s powerful grace in this conversion, which was aided by his first wife’s Christian faith, his learning to read Christian books, and attendance in worship. Even so, he suffered great turmoil during this transition.

Second Part, Restoration and Imprisonment

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[1] Bunyan, John. Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners (Updated, Illustrated): A Brief Account of God’s Exceeding Mercy through Christ to His Poor Servant, John Bunyan . Aneko Press. Kindle Edition.

[2] Bunyan, John. Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners (Updated, Illustrated): A Brief Account of God’s Exceeding Mercy through Christ to His Poor Servant, John Bunyan . Aneko Press. Kindle Edition. Luther’s Galatians Lectures (also called Commentary) is recommended by the Formula of Concord for additional study of Justification by Faith.

 LCMS seminary graduates say, "Really? Let's join Rome"

Starting January 8th - Wednesday, 7 PM Central

 This is a pivotal stop in the journey. Bunyan studied Justification by Faith in Luther's Galatians.

 The work has two parts. We will cover Part 1, about Christian. 

The Pilgrim’s Progress as an Allegory

 The burden on his back - his sins.
He is studying the Bible to find his way.

We use figures of speech in our normal conversation, but seldom think about their use. Some come from the Bible, where the best known ones are called parables. Luke 15 is an example of parables used to introduce one of the most significant parables.

Luke 15:1-7 is the Parable of the Lost Sheep.

Luke 15:8-10 is the Parable of the Lost Coin.

Luke 15:11 begins the Parable of the Prodigal Son, illustrating the Old Testament custom of moving from the lesser (the sheep and the coin) to the greater – the Prodigal Son. The two introductory stories get us accustomed to the feelings of loss and recovery. The story of the impetuous son, the forgiving father, and the self-righteous brother teaches us the nature of our gracious heavenly Father. Concrete images and associated emotions embed the Biblical lesson.

We are heirs of Greek and Latin literature as well. We use these figures daily:

·        I almost died – Exaggeration or hyperbole.

·        The salad was like twigs and pine cones – simile.

·        He is a dog – metaphor.

·        That was no small task – litotes, a double negative used for a positive, considered an understatement for effect.

·        He gave the wrong reason for the wrong evidence to the wrong person – anaphora, repetition of a phrase for emphasis.

Many more figures could be listed.

The allegory is the grandest tool of our language. An entire book can be an allegory. Used poorly, the result is odd or tedious. The Marriage of Mercury to Philology by Jupiter belongs in a special class – unread, unloved, and largely unknown, except among Medieval scholars. The Lord of the Rings can be seen as an extensive allegory, especially because J. R. R. Tolkien was a Roman Catholic. Likewise, the movie E. T. suggests similar themes, the script written by a Roman Catholic. Some allegories are quite obvious in their intent:

1.      Animal Farm, by George Orwell

2.      The Chronicles of Narnia, by C. S. Lewis – children see Aslan as Jesus, but adults miss that entirely.

3.      Plato’s Allegory of the Cave

4.      The Faerie Queen – by Spencer

5.      Herman Melville – Moby Dick

6.      St. Paul – the armor of God – Ephesians 6

The Pilgrim’s Progress is an allegory, which might be described as a parable with fictional characters. This means we should read The Pilgrim’s Progress slowly and considers its lessons. This work is not a novel, but a way to explain essential lessons from the Bible. The wealth of the book comes from its details. The author explored the challenges and temptations of Christian, the allegorical hero, on his way from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City. The names and mishaps are often humorous and always instructive.