Pilgrims Progress is a firm classic of English literature and especially as a commentary on the Christian life. Christian's progress is affected by the characters he meets. Some of the social comment of the time may be lost on us but the spiritual oppressors and Godly supporters we can still identify today.
BTW a retelling of this dream-story for the 1960s is 'Passport to Life City' with Chris Anders in his Mustang car - a good read but missing the social resonance.
John Bunyan was an ordinary working man and after a period of searching came to faith through a non-conformist church. Independent groups had existed from at least John Wycliffe and the Lollards, but Puritanism expanded after the Reformation. They desired to meet to express a lively faith, with concern for people's welfare, soul and body, outside the formalism and interests of the state church. Though at least semi-underground, God drew people to them.
Bunyan's life spanned the Civil War/Commonwealth/Restoration period - a time of huge social upheaval, God cracking England open. As a young man Bunyan spent some time in the Model Army. No one could remain aloof from politics any more than we can now in the ongoing Culture Wars. These also cost lives – of the unborn, the elderly, the vulnerable. We all have to work with the world as it is, but in times of trial the choices we make are the more significant and potentially costly. Bunyan's other works have much more direct socio-political comment, especially The Holy War, the battle between 'Emmanuel' and 'Diabolus' for the town of 'Mansoul', and how the various characters and civic institutions respond.
Pilgrims Progress has been translated into over 200 languages, popular in the developing world, a favourite of those seeking hope in material, social and spiritual distress.
Parallels
It should not surprise us how many parallels there are with today, the old enemy has a limited playbook but many disguises.
Bureaucratic bypass: In the Restoration an elite ruled - the 'gentry' - who installed Charles II. This was the 'Cavalier parliament' with their acolytes in every town's councils, including Bunyan's Bedford. They overruled the King's Act of Indulgence which allowed non-state churches to exist - so Bunyan was imprisoned. (We recognise The Swamp, The Blob, central and local, overruling the official executive.)
Free speech: The elite was very sensitive to dissent. Printing presses were only allowed in London, so they could be controlled, and licences had to be obtained for each document printed. Printing and the Web had analogous effects on the transmission of ideas. Printing was crucial to the spread of Reformation thought. (The obvious censorship and propaganda of recent years and the less obvious social conditioning of recent decades.)
Populism: Charles II's censor wanted to suppress 'the great masters of the popular style' like Bunyan, ie suppress charismatic speakers. Bunyan was an (unintentional) political as well as a religious prisoner (a small group gathering could be interpreted as being anti-goverment). Bunyan's printers often experienced fines or imprisonment. (Populism is derided today, 'little people', 'garbage', as it challenges their authoritarianism. Astonishingly the concept of truth and the cornerstone US First Amendment are both openly challenged.)
Seditious: Anyone who protested the state/gentry was branded a traitor and injury was enacted against them. (Cancel Culture, Batley schoolteacher, Anti-abortion - praying in your head, two-tier policing, pro-Israel, anti-Islam, January 6…)
Disempowering: They also financially impoverished the working classes who were worse off than in the Commonwealth or before. (Covid shutdowns, excessive taxes, over-immigration.)
Fragmented culture: There were Ranters, Levellers, Diggers, Latitudinarians, Fifth-monarchists, Quakers (our multiplicity of UK parties and interest-groups) all with different agendas, also noted philosophers: Hobbes (mirroring today's Marx/Nietzsche-inspired authoritarianism) and Locke (Jordan Peterson, Tom Holland, Nigel Biggar, lots more.)
Divided virtue: It also parallels the failure of the 'good guys' to get over their differences and get politically organised, putting the country first. So the way opened after Cromwell for the 'Restoration' - a conflicted King and a revengeful elite. (RINOs in the US being disorganised about challenging 2020 election misbehaviour, and Congress members too exposed to implicit bribery, Big Eva colluding with progressives. In the UK betrayal of values by one party leading to election vote split and malign-misrule by another, CoE sell-out to man-haters over Creation sexuality and evangelical groups slow to respond.)
Creative genius: But great visions of God are published and popular - Milton & Bunyan - very different styles but both engaging with worldviews/politics from a Christian perspective. (Earlier Tolkien, CS Lewis; today visual media like The Chosen is compelling - Biblical Jesus with back-story. Written word also needed.)
Gospel levelling: In God's economy it's not only the poor who He calls and, as in the Gospels, people of all rank accept Him as Lord. Famed Puritan leader John Owen had significant political influence – leading to JB's eventual release from prison.
(We have seen well-known figures come to faith and also well-meaning people, from differing motives, calling out falsehood - like JK Rowling, others preserving core freedoms - like Elon Musk.)
Christian weakness: Bunyan was disappointed in the way that Christians who followed Cromwell changed sides and joined the new ascendancy at the Restoration. He was aware of the weaknesses of the many congregations he visited as a popular preacher.
(We see this in the adoption of Woke beliefs by some leading evangelicals in an attempt to gain social favour, and the refusal of many 'sound' ministers and church members to actually engage in battles for the Kingdom, lacking true valour.)
Messy but miraculous
Amazingly, through God's grace, something good came out of this that bore long-term fruit in the UK and US. Britain rejected Romanish absolutist political and ideological rule by resisting Charles II, ejecting James II and establishing Constitutional Government. The state church never regained the hegemony over Christian practice (which had included economic exclusion and fines if you didn't turn up on Sundays). This was mostly because, despite persecution, the increased numbers of non-conformists (Christian and other!) made it impractical. The CoE eventually experienced some reform through Evangelical revivals.
Government developed a greater sense of civic responsibility and was more respecting of diverse views, including Puritan views, which contributed to Britain's relative public virtue, social mobility and economic success. Later key reforms in Slavery and Factories were regarded as coming from the Puritan spirit. These attitudes and beliefs had a determining effect on political organisation in the New World with built-in diffusion of power and freedom of belief.
Britain became the foremost Missionary sending nation - often from non-conformist groups.
Millennialism – the return of the King
There had been a strong belief among Puritans of the imminent return of the Lord and the establishment of rule on Earth by the Elect. This did not happen in the full political sense but in many ways it's an expectation we should all have, all the time, 'Thy kingdom come, they will be done..' and it applies to all realms: personal, familial, congregational, communal, commercial and political. In recent decades we've been fed the falsehood of secular neutrality. This is never the case, everyone follows a master (
