英国文学课件bunyan.docVIP

Context John Bunyan was born in Elstow, England, in 1628. As the son of a household appliance repairman, Bunyan was expected to carry on his father’s trade. Bunyan had very little schooling but learned the rudiments of reading and writing. From boyhood on, Bunyan experienced private visions that fed his brand of Christian devotion. He saw devils and heard inner voices talking about Christ and later in life felt driven to pray to trees and broomsticks. These visions and dreams would later serve as an inspiration for his writings. At sixteen, Bunyan enlisted in the army as a solider and fought in the English Civil War, fought between the Puritans and the Royalists over Charles I’s changes to the Church of England, including a new English Prayer Book.Bunyan’s involvement in the Baptist Church began soon after marrying Margaret Bentley in Elstow in 1647. At the behest of his wife, Bunyan began to read the Bible and attend church on a regular basis. Bunyan was received into the Baptist Church in 1653. Bunyan advanced his knowledge of the Christian faith and scriptures by fasting and practicing solemn prayer. He started preaching in Bedford and nearby villages and gained an immense, popular following wherever he preached, earning the nickname “Bishop Bunyan” because of his stature as a religious teacher and thinker. After bearing Bunyan four children, Margaret died in 1657. Two years later, Bunyan remarried. Bunyan’s experience of religion was deeply individual. A pious young man, his strong sensitivity to sin was self-imposed and self-enforced. His personal standards were harsh and unforgiving. Bunyan did not commit many sins, but he did confess to using profane language, having danced, and having rung the bells of his local church without permission. His severe and self-critical moral code provides the backdrop to Christian’s earnest and impassioned search for salvation in The Pilgrim’s Progress. Religion and politics both dominated Bunyan’s life. The Puritans, evangeli