The name of John Bunyan is known in every part of the world. His most famous book, The Pilgrim’s Progress, has been translated into nearly 300 languages and dialects, and continues to be hugely influential. The book, and his many other publications, draw on Bunyan’s own life journey, which was shaped by his conversion to Christianity, and by the turbulent times in which he lived. His story resounds through the years.
He didn’t come from a position of privilege or wealth, but his story echoes the experiences of many people throughout the ages, and resonates powerfully with our own times.
- He was an outsider: starting out as a travelling tinker, served as a soldier in the English Civil War, flighting against an absolute monarchy.
- He was a non-conformist and dissenter: standing out against the privileges of wealth and power, believing that the voice of God speaks through ordinary people.
- He was arrested and imprisoned for his religious beliefs for about a third of his adult life.
- While in prison, he wrote books, which were smuggled out of prison by members of his congregation.
- Once free, he and a group of local people bought an orchard, where they established an independent church, which still worships on the same site to this day.
Some 5,000 visitors a year come to The John Bunyan Museum, about 1000 of whom come from elsewhere in Britain, and a further 1000 from beyond the UK.
Because of his forthright views and non-conformist position, he still speaks into many issues, rooted in the history of Christian Dissent, that are highly relevant in our own time. Here are a few, gathered from visitors to the Museum, and people involved in Bunyan 400. Please contact us if you would like to suggest more topics:
- the place of faith in society
- freedom of speech
- imprisonment and the treatment of prisoners
- writing from prison
- the power of literacy and education
- the art of allegory and landscape
issues of translation and culture - resistance and dissent
- the history of ideas
- the complex legacy of mission and colonialism