An Apology for The Pilgrim's Progress
‘This book will make a traveller of thee…’
So begins John Bunyan’s classic The Pilgrim’s Progress. Many Christians of the past four centuries would testify that it is indeed a book to stir up the heavenbound pilgrim – offering encouragement, challenge, warning, and hope to the man, woman, or child, who desires to attain to the life to come.
But the book has its critics, even prominent ones, and can be a challenging read for modern Christians. With this in mind, we read John Muether’s commendation of Bunyan’s classic, and an excerpt from the Trust’s recent paperback edition of C. H. Spurgeon’s Pictures from Pilgrim’s Progress.
Featured Content:
– ‘Why Evangelicals Don’t Read Pilgrim’s Progress (and Why They Should)’, John Muether, originally published in a Reformed Theological Seminary publication. This was featured on the Banner website on Nov. 2, 2003:
– C. H. Spurgeon, Pictures from Pilgrim’s Progress (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 2024), pp. 145–153.
About the Contributors:
John R. Muether joined Reformed Theological Seminary-Orlando as Library Director in 1989. Mr. Muether also serves as Professor of Church History, teaching core courses on education in the church, Christian engagement with culture and church government as well as elective courses on various topics.
Mr. John R. Muether’s faculty page: https://rts.edu/people/mr-john-r-muether/
C. H. Spurgeon was, for most of the second half of the 19th century, England’s best-known preacher, becoming converted to Christianity at the age of 15 in 1850. During the 1850s, London’s largest halls overflowed with people wanting to hear this youthful minister preach. During the 1860s, he founded the Metropolitan Tabernacle, along with a college for pastors and an orphanage, and he was already publishing sermons and a monthly magazine. He authored many books, with some of the most popular Charles Spurgeon books including Flowers From a Puritan’s Garden with its inspiring illustrations and meditations; A Defence of Calvinism, where Spurgeon explains and defends Biblical teachings about God’s grace in the Gospels; and the C.H. Spurgeon Autobiography, volumes 1 and 2. Volume 1 is subtitled “The Early Years,” while Volume 2 is “The Full Harvest 1860-1892.” The C.H. Spurgeon Autobiography is also available as a two-volume set.
Buy Pictures from Pilgrim’s Progress:
https://banneroftruth.org/store/theology-books/pictures-from-pilgrims-progress/
Explore the work of the Banner of Truth: www.banneroftruth.org
Subscribe to the Magazine (print/digital/both): www.banneroftruth.org/magazine
Leave us a voice message: www.speakpipe.com/magazinepodcast
[mag_podbean_player]Latest Articles
Thomas Chalmers on the Evangelistic Power of a Visiting Minister 27 March 2025
Thomas Chalmers (1780–1847) was a powerful advocate of pastoral visitation (as indeed he was of preaching, which, as the ‘proclamation of the Gospel’, he saw as the minister’s ‘main work’). In his tract On the Right Ecclesiastical Economy of a Large Town[mfn]The article is largely concerned to argue for the ‘parochial’ or parish system under […]
The Death-Bed of John Knox: A Poem, by Anne Ross Cousin 18 February 2025
Anne Ross Cousin is best known as the authoress of the hymn, The sands of time are sinking. Its nineteen verses (in its original form) are based on the death-bed sayings of a remarkable seventeenth century Scottish preacher, Samuel Rutherford. What is not so well known is that Anne Ross Cousin put into verse some […]