FEARLESS PILGRIM
The life and times of John Bunyan
By Faith Cook. Evangelical Press. 528 pages. £16.95
ISBN 978-0-85234-680-8
Most of us have heard of The Pilgrim’s Progress, one of the bestselling books of all time, but what about Fearless Pilgrim? This is a book that intertwines 17th-century English history with the drama of John Bunyan’s life. Faith Cook brings to life the atmosphere in England during this period, reporting on the turbulent times that brought suffering to many. Fearless Pilgrim is also illustrated, further enabling the reader to make the journey into Bunyan’s world.
Reading of Bunyan’s humble origins and conversion were particularly absorbing. He was plagued by temptation and doubt, tormenting himself with self-accusation. It was not until he came to understand the doctrine of justification by faith that Bunyan was truly set free. For he had understood that ‘it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor yet my bad frame of heart that made my righteousness worse; for my righteousness was Jesus Christ himself’. And so Bunyan was no longer tormented by what he was lacking, for he knew that ‘now Christ was all... all my wisdom, all my righteousness, all my sanctification, and all my redemption’.
