The Orthodoxy of Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress
I’m not going to say any more than than I thought this to be a marvelous piece:
As a good Evangelical, taught always to make much of one’s ‘conversion’ experience and to equate praying the ‘sinner’s prayer’ with ‘being saved’, I was confused when I first read John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress some thirty five years ago. I kept waiting for the dramatic buildup that would surely precede Christian’s conversion. Instead, there was a series of decisions, choices really, each one crucially significant but none of which mapped on to my understanding of ‘salvation’. There was the choice to set out from the city of destruction, the choice to go in by the narrow way through the wicket gate, the choice to reject Mr. Worldly Wiseman’s advice. Choices to listen to Evangelist and Interpreter. The not-yet-saved-as-I-understood-it Christian had already endured several adventures and misadventures, and was obviously striving as best he could to leave his old ways and embark on the way that would lead to the celestial city. Indeed, he was already well along on his journey, and we hadn’t yet come across familiar and what I thought were necessary landmarks to ‘being saved.’
Do take the time to hop over and read all of this, as it’s well worth your time.
Tags: Christian Life, Christianity, Theology Doctrine Philosophy