John Bunyan is best known for The Pilgrim’s Progress, the most famous of all Christian allegories. Kipling called him “the father of the novel.” But not as many people are aware of Bunyan the renegade preacher; imprisoned for sermonizing outside of sanctioned Church of England buildings and without approved Church of England materials (namely, the Book of Common Prayer). Bunyan’s post-Reformation England was an age of civil war, vengeful kings (and queens), religious oppression, and fear. A group of puritans had fled England for the religious freedom of the American colonies less than a decade before Bunyan’s birth.
This is the backdrop of Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, John Bunyan’s brief autobiography. There is hardly any commentary on the volatile political climate, and very little time spent describing his imprisonments and preaching career. Most of the book is concerned with his internal agonizing over the nature of grace and his own persistent sin.
He struggles and struggles and struggles. By the time he finally finds relief in the Scriptures, I was relieved along with him. Bunyan was one tortured guy, despite his external ministry success. His oppressive guilt and temptations could well have been demonic or related to a mental illness of some kind. Yes, this is a Christian classic, but it is also a deeply personal spiritual memoir,
Bunyan had an amazing knowledge of the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments. Many of his spiritual breakthroughs came when he was meditating on Scripture, but not necessarily reading it. God would bring a certain scripture to his mind when he needed it. What a humbling picture of a true man of the Word! For Bunyan, every problem or challenge he faced was a theological one.
This is a great book. I particularly liked the last third of the book in which Bunyan discusses his preaching endeavors and imprisonment. His preaching was an overflow of his excitement for the Word, and he describes it as an almost involuntary reaction to his own study and application. He just HAD to preach the Word; he couldn’t help it even if he tried.
Despite its short length, Grace Abounding is not a particularly approachable book due to Bunyan’s complex Elizabethan English. Simon Vance, an Englishman, does a great job with the audio version narration, and I highly recommend this book for its theological, biographical, and historical value.
Please Note: This audiobook was gifted as a part of the Christianaudio Reviewers Program in exchange for my unbiased review of this work. This has in no way influenced my opinion or review of this work. More information can be found about this and other Christian audiobooks at christianaudio.com.