Pilgrim's Progress - the month ahead

To whet your appetite, here's an overview of the journey we'll be taking with Christian through Pilgrim's Progress during the next 4 weeks. I've left an empty spot at the end - let's see where the journey takes us!

week 1 - beginning our journey
Hints for reading Pilgrim’s Progress
John Bunyan's own journey
The opening scenes of Pilgrim's Progress: conversion and assurance

week 2 - our journey and our battle
The Puritans: pilgrims and warriors
Pilgrim's Progress and our Christian journey
Pilgrim's Progress and our daily battle

week 4 - female pilgrims
The women in John Bunyan's life
The women in Pilgrim's Progress (part II)
Community and caring in Pilgrim's Progress (part II)

week 3 - ending our journey
The River of Death in Pilgrim's Progress: facing our death
What Pilgrim's Progress has taught me

In most of my posts on Pilgrim's Progress, I'd like to do three things:

1. share what I have learned from Pilgrim's Progress, and how it's changed me
2. help you to understand the story and the events, places, people and objects you'll come across
3. give you some questions to ponder as you read the book, to reflect on privately, respond to in the comments, or use if you're in a discussion group

Feel free to read whichever of these three sections you like. Sometimes, you might have a question about something in the story which the second section might help you with; at other times, you might want to miss some of the detail and skip to the questions section: that's fine with me!

As we read Pilgrim's Progress together, if you're anything like me, you'll sometimes stop and ask, "Huh? What does that mean?" So I'd like to encourage you to use the comments section to ask about anything you didn't understand. I'll do my best to explain, or someone else might respond to your comment, and tell you what they thought. No question is too stupid: if you've thought of it, chances are someone else did too. As you read, why not make a note of the bits you don't understand, and ask about them in the comments.

Reading Pilgrim's Progress together will be much more fun if we all share what we're learning. If anything in the story struck you, or if you found something particularly helpful, why not add your observations to the comments. I'd love to hear - I'm sure we all would! - about the impact Pilgrim's Progress has had on your life, and how God has used it to help you live for him.

I'm looking forward to travelling through Pilgrim's Progress with you.