About My Book: Pilgrim's Progress in Today's World and Today's Language

When I wrote Pilgrim’s Progress in Today’s World and Today’s Language, my initial purpose was to answer the question: How would John Bunyan have written Pilgrims Progress if he had lived today instead of the 1600s? 


Pat Campo

“Pilgrim’s Progress in Today’s World and Today’s  Language” recreates the John Bunyan classic and sets it in today’s culture. However, I reined in some of my creative writing impulses to stay true to John Bunyan’s message. For example, beginning in Chapter 7 (Christian Arrives at the Wicket Gate) some of the book’s settings become more spiritual and less contemporary.    Each chapter of Pilgrim's Progress in Today's World and Today's Language tries to faithfully mirror the corresponding chapter in the original work. I also kept the original character names and chapter titles so you can easily compare this book to the original Pilgrim's Progress. I studied many commentaries on Pilgrim's Progress to keep this book as authentic as possible. Based on these commentaries, I inserted scriptural references next to the relevant text so you can understand John Bunyan's theological purpose. For your reading enjoyment, I recommend you first read my book without looking up the references as you go. Later, you can reread the book and research the scriptural references as a Bible study.

If you’ve never read Pilgrims Progress, my book will give you the essence of it without having to wrestle with archaic language. Also, most of today’s readers aren’t familiar enough with Bunyan’s 17^th century political and social environment to catch and understand the historical context of some of Bunyan’s subtler points. By setting these understated nuances into today’s social and political environment, I hope to enrich your understanding of Bunyan’s work. For example, John Bunyan's spiritual take on the politics of his time translated into today's political environment might stun liberals and conservative alike.


My primary personal purpose for this book is to generate funding to support missionaries. Additionally, I hope it will be used by the Holy Spirit to give each of you customized messages to help the Spirit strengthen your faith and help you deal with your spiritual and personal struggles. If there are parts of my interpretation of Pilgrim's Progress you don’t agree with, that’s fine. What’s important is that your differing interpretation, through the power of the Holy Spirit, gives you spiritual insights that will bless you.