by John Bunyan

John Bunyan’s life spanned one of the most dramatic periods in English history. He was born in Bedford in 1628, just a year before Charles I dissolved Parliament and began 11 years of “personal rule.” In 1640, when economic necessity finally forced Charles I to recall Parliament, the competing interests of the aristocracy, the growing bourgeoisie, religious dissenters, and the army clashed, and by 1642 civil war had broken out. The execution of Charles I remains the most notorious incident of this period, but profound changes occurred at every level of society. This is the world in which Bunyan came of age and which formed the religious and political convictions that shaped his literary career. When the teenaged Bunyan entered the army in 1644, he must have served under antiroyalist parliamentary forces and was thus exposed to some of the most...