Russell Moore Says John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress ‘Leaves Me Cold’

Staff Writer

On a recent episode of his podcast, former ERLC president and current Editor-in-Chief of Christianity Today Russell Moore offered up the smarmy, self-satisfied confession that he doesn’t like John Bunyan or his famous book Pilgrim’s Progress, saying it leaves him “cold” for it’s emphasis on encouraging believers to test themselves to see if they are in the faith.

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“The Pilgrim’s Progress” is a religious allegory by John Bunyan, the renowned 17th Century Reformed Baptist and English preacher, and perhaps the most influential Christian literature after the bible. In 1660, Bunyan was arrested for preaching without a license from the Church of England. He was subsequently imprisoned for about twelve years, during which he wrote The Pilgrim’s Progress, among other works. The book was first published in 1678 and has since become one of the most famous and enduring works of Christian literature.

The story follows the journey of the main character, Christian, as he travels from the “City of Destruction” to the “Celestial City.” The narrative is an allegory of the Christian journey from a life of sin and spiritual darkness to salvation and eternal life. In the book, Christian faces various trials, temptations, and encounters with characters representing different aspects of the Christian experience, making it achingly relatable and deeply personal.

But it does nothing for the cold vessel that is Moore, who explains:

Moore: I don’t like John Bunyan.  I like the person of John Bunyan.  I like the life of John Bunyan,  but Pilgrim’s Progress leaves me cold and Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners even more so.  And I think because I’ve seen so many people who started reading some Puritan  literature from that time period who became so morose and so introspective and believing there’s no way they could really be a Christian.

And all of the tests that they were giving to themselves,  then they would test whether or not they had the objectivity to go through the tests,  you know, all of that.  That Puritan era, I think,  brought some things that just  really creeped me out.  

But you talk about in the book just how significant Pilgrim’s Progress really was in terms of shaping everything around us, which I don’t think I’d ever thought about before. I mean, I knew it was at one point the most popular book other than the Bible, but I didn’t really think about how the story actually changed the way we see things.  

Prior: I’m going to be completely honest here.  I mean,  the Pilgrim’s Progress is kind of a drag to read.  I mean,  even teaching it,  my students love to hate it,  and I love to teach it to try to hate it with them and help them see it. And I’m so glad,  actually,  that I came to it as a student of literature before more than a Christian.  I mean,  I was a Christian,  but I approached it as literature.