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Grace Abounding

John Bunyan

John Bunyan (1626-1688) a Puritan preacher and author whose writings achieved lasting influence and esteem throughout Protestantism and the English-speaking world. He was born in Elstow, near Bedford, and had only minimal education before joining the Parliamentary army of Cromwell. Bunyan describes his own “dissolute and profligate” youth in his autobiography, Grace Abounding, leading up to his conversion in 1653. He became a Baptist in 1655 and acted as a lay preacher both during and after the Commonwealth; this led to his imprisonment in 1660. He remained in prison, sometimes very loosely, for 12 years until he was finally released in 1672. He wrote extensively and preached, both in his confinement, and afterward as minister of a congregation in Bedford. Bunyan’s colorful spiritual allegories and theological writings appealed greatly to the lower and middle classes in England, in particular, with wonderfully direct and lively imagery expressing Protestant thought and teaching.

Bunyan’s spiritual autobiography.

“Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners” - this work, written in 1666, has been called Bunyan’s “spiritual autobiography”, and has even been compared with Augustine’s Confessions in its nature and spirit. It is in some respects, the same story as that of the allegorical Pilgrim’s Progress – describing a person’s journey from the profane to the sacred, from his own poor natural life to a new creation in Christ. The brief narrative is in fact devoid of many personal details which might be found in a standard biography; rather the life story is shaped to an archetypal, scriptural, and spiritual framework – always colorful, heartfelt and creative.

Biographies

Bunyan, John