The Pilgrim’s Progress

John Bunyan’s 1678 Christian allegory follows Christian from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City, portraying the journey of faith toward salvation.

Allegory: A narrative in which characters, events, or settings represent ideas beyond their literal meaning. Bunyan makes Christian’s physical pilgrimage represent the soul’s progress toward salvation.
Christian (The Pilgrim’s Progress): The allegory’s protagonist, a pilgrim who leaves the City of Destruction seeking the Celestial City. His decisions and changing convictions provide the journey’s narrative spine.
John Bunyan: An English Baptist preacher and writer best known for The Pilgrim’s Progress. Bunyan wrote the allegory while imprisoned for preaching without authorization.
The Wicket Gate: The narrow entrance to the path of salvation in Bunyan’s allegory. Christian’s entry through the gate marks commitment to the route Evangelist prescribed.
Pilgrim's Progress (1678): The first part of John Bunyan’s allegory, published in 1678 and centered on Christian’s pilgrimage. The first part’s reception and later adaptations are often discussed separately from Bunyan’s 1684 sequel.
Christian salvation: In Christian theology, deliverance from sin and reconciliation with God. Salvation is the destination that gives Christian’s journey its spiritual meaning.
Evangelist (The Pilgrim’s Progress): A guide in Bunyan’s allegory who directs Christian toward the narrow gate and the path of salvation. Evangelist starts Christian’s journey and repeatedly redirects him when he strays.
Bedford Gaol: The English prison where John Bunyan was confined for much of 1660–1672 and again briefly in 1676. Bunyan’s imprisonment forms the biographical setting commonly associated with the book’s composition.
The Interpreter's House: A house of instructive symbolic scenes visited by Christian early in his pilgrimage. Its tableaux teach Christian how to interpret the spiritual dangers ahead.
The Pilgrim's Progress, Part II: John Bunyan’s 1684 sequel, in which Christiana and her companions travel toward the Celestial City. The sequel revisits the pilgrimage through a new company and extends the original allegory.

Linked from 9 pages