The Pilgrim

We're in the midst of our first week of classes at Grace School of Ministry and God is so good to us in giving us this privilege to reach and teach men from many parts of Africa. . . One of the next classes will be Christian Life Issues using The Pilgrim's Progress as our text book. I am addicted to your version for teaching and reading.

-- Dr. Wayne Mack, Missionary/Seminary Prof, South Africa

I cannot heap enough words of praise on Cheryl Ford's modern English translation of John Bunyan's immortal and beloved classic of both Christian and World Literature! As an Advanced Placement English Instructor of two decades, I had searched for years for a modern English translation that did justice to the powerful themes and allegorical meanings of Bunyan's original, and this is simply the best version. It is a very faithful, literal translation, yet beautifully lyrical and easy to read. This edition also has many helpful notes and appendices to aid in grasping the meanings, in addition to innumerable scriptural cross-references in the margins of the pages. These are the reasons I go to great lengths to secure copies of Ford's translation each year for my Advanced Placement English students to study.

-- Melody Lambert, B. S., M. Ed.

31 yearsʼ experience teaching in public/private schools and independent classes
20 yearsʼ experience as an Advanced Placement English Instructor in public/private schools and independent classes

Thank you for your ministry to so many fellow pilgrims by your faithful translation of this wonderful classic.

As I reflect on the 4th anniversary of my mother's home going (March 31, 2003), I remember that I read the section of Christian crossing the river to the Celestial City to her in those last days. She was not able to communicate with words, but her eyes were glued to me and she was intently listening and grasping every word. She had greatly enjoyed the companion devotional. What a sweet memory to have! It brings me great delight to share it with you here. She crossed that river and I am confident that I will see her in THE CITY one day!

--Loretta Andrews

Our study group has been such a blessing to me. I started three years ago with just a couple of friends and it has grown to 14! We are all from different churches in our community, but God has been able to use the study to introduce such dear truth to women. They had not heard of Pilgrim's Progress until I used "Doubting Castle" and "Giant Despair" to relate to another book we were studying. That night they said, "Can we read that one next?" I thought, "Praise the Lord!". What a joy it will be to introduce them to Christian and his journey that I have gleaned so much from myself!
Well, all that to say that your faithfulness to this book is being used mightly for our Lord's Kingdom.

--Faith Davison

The Pilgrim's Progress: Faithfully Retold in Today's English

1992 Gold Medallion Award winner!

"It is my profound privilege to participate in keeping this phenomenal story alive till Jesus comes." -- Cheryl

Come join us on a journey of the Christian life -- a pilgrimage -- where colorful characters will greet you at every turn. Among others, you'll meet Christian, Faithful, Hopeful, Giant Despair, Little-faith, Ignorance, Legality, Worldly-wiseman, and the dragon Apollyon. On the way to the Celestial City, you'll visit places like the Village of Morality, the House of Interpreter, Vanity Fair, Doubting Castle, the Valley of Humiliation, Palace Beautiful, the Delectable Mountains, the Enchanted Ground, and the Country of Beulah...

For over 300 years Christians have found life within the pages of The Pilgrim's Progress. This edition by Cheryl Ford provides a fresh, modern rendering as biblical truths are weaved into a simple yet profound story that reveals the treacheries of the human heart and the power of conquering faith. Many modern translations of this Christian classic leave out significant parts or add passages not included in John Bunyan's original. But this translation is different. First, in contemporary English it faithfully presents the complete text (including the pilgrimages of Christian and Christiana). Second, more than 150 one‑color calligraphy pieces by Timothy R. Botts enhance this beloved story. Additional features include comprehensive Scripture cross‑references and an exhaustive index to all the people, places, and spiritual symbols. Questions for group discussion and personal application strengthen the impact of this timeless story of Christian life.

“Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage. They go from strength to strength till each appears before God in Zion.” (Psalm 84:5, 7)

Click here for sample page

"For two centuries Pilgrim's Progress was the best-read book, after the Bible, in all Christendom, but sadly it is not so today. When I ask my classes of young and youngish evangelicals, as I often do, who has read Pilgrim's Progress, not a quarter of the hands go up. Yet our rapport with fantasy writing, plus our lack of grip on the searching, humbling, edifying truths about spiritual life that the Puritans understood so well, surely mean that the time is ripe for us to dust off Pilgrim's Progress and start reading it again. Certainly, it would be great gain for modern Christians if Bunyan's masterpiece came back into its own in our day. Have you yourself, I wonder, read it yet? J. I. Packer, "Pilgrim's Progress," in The Devoted Life: An Invitation to the Puritan Classics ed. Kapic and Gleason (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press: 2004), p. 198.

Interesting facts: There are so many! Did you know that John Bunyan, the author of this English literary classic was uneducated? Hard to imagine! His The Pilgrim's Progress was first published in 1675. Bet you can't guess the original title. Here it is: The Pilgrim's Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come. Did you know there was a time when two essential books were present in nearly every home in England and America -- a bible and a copy of The Pilgrim's Progress? When Christianity Today asked in a magazine poll of experts, "What is your favorite novel of all time?", guess which book came in first. The Pilgrim's Progress! Here's a fact for you: Charles Spurgeon, one of history's greatest preachers, read The Pilgrim's Progress over one hundred times in the course of his life! Ravi Zacharias, one of today's great Christian leaders, says of the classic, "The Pilgrim's Progress is a masterpiece. . . . It is, outside of the Bible, the best piece of work that 'reads the reader.' To see your heart revealed in a book and to stand bowed before the Cross is the most compelling experience one can accept from a book."

(For other Bunyan works click here.)