Bunyan and the Word

This chapter examines the changing nature of John Bunyan’s relationship with the Word of God as expressed in the Bible and the way it shaped his life and writing in a range of genres. Bunyan’s own conversion experience, engendered by his violent encounters with the Word of God both personally and communally, is considered first. This experience shaped Bunyan’s future readings of Scripture as an author and pastor. His biblical hermeneutic is then analyzed. Finally, the ways in which Bunyan appropriated and was appropriated by the Bible in his life and works is explored by focusing on two themes that consistently characterize scriptural aspects both of his pastoral practice and of his entire oeuvre: marriage and pilgrimage.