Pilgrim's Progress - Part I

In many ways, this text reminds me of Dante's Inferno.  Both are journeys towards salvation although the contexts are somewhat different.  A beautifully written tale.  I love the symbolism and themes in this text, minus the Christian message...  As with other Christian texts, I am finding it very, very difficult to plough through them.  It is extremely difficult to remove my bias about Christianity.  What irks me is the wrathful God and the "Love me or burn in hell for eternity" message.  It really is hard not to get angry at times... Ellie mentioned that this text is not taught in theology classes.  While this may be true, my partner tells me that he had to read/learn excerpts from this text in Sunday school.  Like Sarah, this makes my blood boil.  To poison children's minds, to put fear into them is plain wrong to me.  I know Ellie talks about various scholars' interpretation of this text but ultimately, this text was written with an intent that was not secular despite what modern scholars say/think/feel.  I understand that you can still interpret it in a secular way, nonetheless and make this text work for you, for your worldview.  I can appreciate the message of taking (reasonable) risks in life but none of this fear mongering stuff.  It's just absolutely appalling to me.

I think Ignorance is an unfair name for the character.  I didn't feel that he was ignorant.  He was at worse, Misguided and at best, Faithful/Obedient.  To have led a good life but to be cast to hell for eternity - wow, and you want me to love this God??  Bunyan, you're just not convincing me of your theology...

Best picture in my search of 'pilgrim's progress'

I do not believe in the Marxist interpretation that Ellie mentioned and am quite frankly baffled by this interpretation as someone who subscribes to Marxist ideology.  I see this story of salvation more in line with this line from Marx: "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people."  This happy-ending cautionary fairy tale (as I see it) is a lovely story but that is all it is to me.  The story gave the working class hope that there will be something better in some other world/life.  It gives them hope in their harsh conditions in this material world.  Sometimes, we just need hope and religion can provide such hope.  I get it but do not subscribe to it.

Like Rachel, I enjoyed the 'adventure' element in the first quarter of the story but as I progress through my 'journey' of this text, I enjoyed it less and less.  As mentioned above, it is really difficult to detach from the awful theology in this text...

The pilgrim goes through trials and tribulations, makes mistakes, learns from them, suffers and then with guidance, reaches salvation - very Dante's Inferno!

One thing that struck me in this text is 'sleep'.  Sleep appears for the most bad to be something bad, something that hinders you and puts you behind in whatever journey you journey.  A strong word like 'sin' was even used!  I am not too clear what sleep connotes.  The lack of faith in God?  Or a put-down of bodily/earthly functions?

Civility, Legality and Worldly Wiseman.  Earthly laws, desires and order cannot cleanse one of sins.  Salvation cannot come through earthly or human means.

The pilgrim journeys from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City and in between encounters wilderness, Giant and other creatures.  Perhaps this ties into Genesis in which wilderness denotes that one has strayed from the right path of God.  The spiritual (rather than the earthly) City is the ultimate destination as a place of comfort.

Map of Pilgrim's Progress