Pilgrim’s Progress 2: Christiana’s Story

Pilgrim’s Progress 2

Christiana’s Story

John Bunyan certainly authored the most influential book in the English language (other than the King James Bible) but The Pilgrim’s Progress is so much more than that. It was written in two parts. The 1st (and most famous) part involves Pilgrim leaving his wife and children and risking everything to get to the heavenly city.

The 2nd part, contained in this volume, tells the story of how Pilgrim’s wife and children follow him to reach the same destination. Bunyan wants his reader to travel through this book as an adventure through the Christian life – retold in words and pictures. Though not as well-known as The Pilgrim’s Progress, this sequel has an equal place in the hearts of those that know of it.

If you’ve read The Pilgrim’s Progress but not Christiana’s story yet, then get ready to enjoy a new set of challenges to overcome as Christian’s wife and children make their way to the heavenly city. Yet again Bunyan’s imaginative text brings out practical and necessary lessons that every believer needs to know.

Additional features and study sections have been included to help today’s generation to understand the book. These will help you to get behind some of the characters and places described.

• Read to me: 6–11
• Read Myself: 12–14

About John Bunyan

John Bunyan (1628-1688) was born at Elstow, England, about a mile from Bedford, and became one of the most influential authors of the seventeenth century. Few writers in history have left such a wealth of Christ-centered writings.

Bunyan’s moving conversion is recorded in his Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. While walking the streets of Bedford, Bunyan heard “three or four poor women” sitting at a door, “talking about the new birth, the work of God in their hearts, and the way by which they were convinced of their miserable state by nature. They told how God had visited their souls with His love in Christ Jesus, and with what words and promises they had been refreshed, comforted, and supported against the temptations of the devil.” From these godly women Bunyan learned to despise sin and to hunger for the Savior. Later, while passing into the fields, he recounts, “This sentence fell upon my soul, ‘Thy righteousness is in heaven’…for my righteousness was Jesus Christ Himself, the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Then “his chains fell off,” and he went home rejoicing.

Calling to Preach and Arrest

In 1655, Bunyan was called to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Bunyan was arrested November 12, 1660, for preaching without the approval of the Anglican Church. He was charged with “teaching men to worship God contrary to the law” and was in jail more than twelve years.

His most well-known work, The Pilgrim’s Progress, was written while in the Bedford jail. During Bunyan’s lifetime there were 100,000 copies circulated in the British isles, besides several editions in North America. It has been continuously in print since its first printing. Bunyan’s remarkable imagery was firmly rooted in the biblical doctrines of man’s fall, grace, imputation, justification, and the atonement.