The Oxford Handbook of John Bunyan
Abstract
The Oxford Handbook of John Bunyan is the most extensive volume of original essays ever published on the seventeenth-century Nonconformist preacher and writer. It examines Bunyan’s life and works, religious and historical contexts, and the critical reception of his writings, in particular his allegory, The Pilgrim’s Progress. Interdisciplinary and comprehensive, it ranges from literary theory to religious history, and from theology to post-colonial criticism. The Handbook is structured in four sections. The first, ‘Contexts’, deals with the historical Bunyan in relation to various aspects of his life, background, and work as a Nonconformist: from basic facts of biography to the nature of his church at Bedford, his theology, and the religious and political cultures of seventeenth-century Dissent. Part II, ‘Works’, considers Bunyan’s literary output in its entirety, including individual chapters on his major narratives and allegories: Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners (1666), The Pilgrim’s Progress, Parts I and II (1678, 1684), The Life and Death of Mr. Badman (1680), and The Holy War (1682). Part III, ‘Directions in Criticism’, engages with Bunyan in literary critical terms, focusing on his employment of form and language and on theoretical approaches to his writings: from psychoanalytic to post-secular criticism. Part IV, ‘Journeys’, surveys the ways in which Bunyan’s works, especially The Pilgrim’s Progress, have travelled throughout the world. Bunyan’s place within key literary periods and historical developments is assessed, from the eighteenth-century novel to the writing of ‘empire’.
Keywords:
John Bunyan,
The Pilgrim’s Progress,
Nonconformist,
Dissent,
Grace Abounding,
Life and Death of Mr. Badman,
The Holy War,
novel,
empire,
theology
Bibliographic Information
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- Print Publication Date:
- Jul 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780199581306
- Published online:
- Aug 2018
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199581306.001.0001
Editors
Michael Davies,
editor
Michael Davies is Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Liverpool. Among his publications is Graceful Reading: Theology and Narrative in the Works of John Bunyan (2002). He is co-editor of Literature and Authenticity, 1780–1900 (2011), and is currently preparing a critical edition of The Bunyan Church Book, 1656–1710 for Oxford University Press.
W. R. Owens,
editor
W. R. Owens is Emeritus Professor of English Literature at the Open University, and Visiting Professor at the University of Bedfordshire. His publications include volumes 12 and 13 of The Miscellaneous Works of John Bunyan (1994), editions of Grace Abounding (1987) and The Pilgrim’s Progress (2003), The Canonisation of Daniel Defoe (co-author, 1988), A Critical Bibliography of Daniel Defoe (co-author, 1998), The Works of Daniel Defoe (joint general editor, 44 volumes, 2000–09), and an edition of The Gospels: Authorized King James Version (2011).
