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Overview

Four years after John Bunyan released his instantly popular journey allegory The Pilgrim's Progress, he published The Holy War--a battle allegory and companion volume. His first book explores salvation of the individual Christian; the second portrays the battle for sanctification. While Christian struggles with questions about assurance of salvation, the collective Mansoul labors with the challenges of being led by and filled with the Holy Spirit. The Pilgrim's Progress focuses on the individual's struggle against sin; The Holy War portrays the Church in a corporate struggle against systemic evil. Bunyan wrote that The Holy War originates in ""the same heart, and head, fingers and pen"" as The Pilgrim's Progress. Both books present separate dimensions of Bunyan's spiritual journey. Taken together, the journey allegory and the battle allegory capture the full range and depth of the biblical message that consumed Bunyan's imagination. He credits his own salvation to these two things: The grace of God and tenacious, continual, holy warfare. The Holy War is testimony to a spiritual battle he fought, and won. This edition provides annotations that clarify Bunyan's first edition language and message for readers in a post-Puritan world.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781610975018
Publisher: Pickwick Publications
Publication date: 08/08/2012
Pages: 332
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

About The Author
John Bunyan (1628-1688) was an English Puritan pastor and prolific author of sermons, theological treatises, poems, and allegories. He is best remembered for The Pilgrim's Progress and his spiritual autobiography, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners.


Daniel V. Runyon is Professor of English and Communication at Spring Arbor University and an authority on the works of seventeenth century allegory writer John Bunyan

Table of Contents

1. The Conquest2. Mansoul's Rebellion3. Commissioned by the King4. The Captains' Invitation5. Hindrances to Peace6. The March of Prince Emmanuel7. Proposals and Counterproposals8. Storming the Gates9. The Triumphant Entrance10. Trial of the Diabolonians11. New Appointments12. The Silent Departure13. A Diabolical Plot14. Exposing the Darkness15. The Army of Doubters16. Nocturnal Maneuvers17. Emmanuel's Message18. The King of Glory19. Prisoners of War20. A Glimpse into Paradise

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Runyon's new edition of John Bunyan's neglected masterpiece The Holy War makes a spirited case for its literary and theological importance. The introduction and footnotes give readers the fullest and most up-to-date help with biblical, historical, and literary contexts."
—Roger Pooley, Keele University and International John Bunyan Society

"In an era newly preoccupied with the oxymoronic pairing of 'holy' and 'war,' Runyon's edition offers a clarifying reminder about the interiority of Bunyan's theme . . . Based on the first edition of 1682 (including marginal notations), this is an excellent teaching text. I have already added it to my syllabus."
—Arlette Zinck, The King's University College

"Runyon provides a useful resource for Christian devotion and discipleship in this version of John Bunyan's The Holy War, a work which explores in exquisite detail the dynamics of sanctification as a lifelong contest and probation. The framing metaphor here is a needed corrective for Bunyan's other primary metaphor of wayfaring on a generic and well-defined way."
—U. Milo Kaufmann, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (retired)

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