The Oxford Handbook of John Bunyan

Edited by Michael Davies and W. R. Owens

Oxford Handbooks

Presents thirty-eight original chapters by internationally recognised scholars from around the globe
Examines Bunyan's life and works, their literary, religious, and historical significance, and the critical reception of his writings, in particular his famous allegory of the Christian life, The Pilgrim's Progress
The interdisciplinary content and approach make this collection unparalleled in the field
Each chapter includes a short list of recommended 'further reading' to direct the reader to the best work in the field and the latest published research
Divided into four sections (Contexts; Works; Directions in Criticism; Journeys) this Handbook is easy to navigate and clear in rationale

The Oxford Handbook of John Bunyan

Edited by Michael Davies and W. R. Owens

Description

The Oxford Handbook of John Bunyan is the most extensive volume of original essays ever published on the seventeenth-century Nonconformist preacher and writer, John Bunyan. Its thirty-eight chapters examine Bunyan's life and works, their religious and historical contexts, and the critical reception of his writings, in particular his allegorical narrative, The Pilgrim's Progress. Interdisciplinary and comprehensive, it provides unparalleled scope and expertise, ranging from literary theory to religious history and from theology to post-colonial criticism.

The Handbook is structured in four sections. The first, 'Contexts', deals with the historical Bunyan in relation to various aspects of his life, background, and work as a Nonconformist: from basic facts of biography to the nature of his church at Bedford, his theology, and the religious and political cultures of seventeenth-century Dissent. Part 2 considers Bunyan's literary output: from his earliest printed tracts to his posthumously published works. Offering discrete chapters on Bunyan's major works—Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners (1666), The Pilgrim's Progress, Parts I and II (1678; 1684); The Life and Death of Mr. Badman (1680), and The Holy War (1682)—this section nevertheless covers Bunyan's oeuvre in its entirety: controversial and pastoral, narrative and poetic. Section 3, 'Directions in Criticism', engages with Bunyan in literary critical terms, focusing on his employment of form and language and on theoretical approaches to his writings: from psychoanalytic to post-secular criticism. Section 4, 'Journeys', tackles some of the ways in which Bunyan's works, and especially The Pilgrim's Progress, have travelled throughout the world since the late seventeenth century, assessing Bunyan's place within key literary periods and their distinctive developments: from the eighteenth-century novel to the writing of 'empire.'

The Oxford Handbook of John Bunyan

Edited by Michael Davies and W. R. Owens

Oxford Handbooks

Introduction: Bunyan's Presence, Michael Davies
PART I: CONTEXTS
1:Bunyan's Life, Bunyan's Lives, Michael A. Mullett
2:Bunyan's England: The Trials and Triumphs of Restoration Dissent, John Coffey
3:Bunyan and the Bedford Congregation, Anne Dunan-Page
4:Bunyan's Theology and Religious Context, Dewey D. Wallace, Jr.
5:Bunyan and the Word, Alison Searle
6:Bunyan's Reading, Roger Pooley
7:Bunyan and Gender, Margaret J. M. Ezell
8:'Come ye out from among them, and be ye separate': Bunyan and the Writing of Dissent, N. H. Keeble
9:Bunyan's Partners in Print, Kathleen Lynch
PART II: WORKS
10:Early Works: Bunyan in the 1650s, David Walker
11:Bunyan in Prison: Writings from the 1660s, David Gay
12:Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners (1666), Nigel Smith
13:'The Desired Countrey': Bunyan's Writings on the Church in the 1670s, Ken Simpson
14:Chasing Apollyon's Tale: The Pilgrim's Progress (1678), Michael Davies
15:The Life and Death of Mr. Badman (1680), Katsuhiro Engetsu
16:The Holy War (1682), Nancy Rosenfeld
17:Piety and Radicalism: Bunyan's Writings of the 1680s, Arlette Zinck
18:The Pilgrim's Progress, Part II (1684), Margaret Olofson Thickstun
19:'Truth in Meeter': Bunyan's Poetry and Dissenting Poetics, Elizabeth Clarke
20:Bunyan's Posthumously Published Works, W. R. Owens
PART III: DIRECTIONS IN CRITICISM
21:Bunyan, Emblem, and Allegory, Jeremy Tambling
22:Bunyan and Romance, Nick Davis
23:The Prose Style of John Bunyan, Mary Ann Lund
24:The Language of The Pilgrim's Progress, Julie Coleman
25:'Nor do thou go to work without my Key': Reading Bunyan Out to the Edges, Maxine Hancock
26:Bunyan and the Historians, Tamsin Spargo
27:Bunyan Unbound: Prison and the Place of Creativity, Vera J. Camden
28:Bunyan, Poststructuralism, and Postmodernism, Stuart Sim
29:Bunyan, Theory, and Theology: A Case for Postsecular Criticism, Lori Branch
PART IV: JOURNEYS
30:Bunyan and the Early Novel, Cynthia Wall
31:The Pilgrim's Progress in the Evangelical Revival, Isabel Rivers
32:Bunyan and the Romantics, Jonathan Shears
33:Bunyan and the Victorians, Vincent Newey
34:Bunyan and America, Joel D. Rasmussen
35:Bunyan, Class, and Englishness, Gary Day
36:Wayfaring Images: The Pilgrim's Progress's Pictorial Journey through Time, Nathalie Collé
37:Bunyan for Children, Shannon Murray
38:Bunyan and Empire, Sylvia Brown

The Oxford Handbook of John Bunyan

Edited by Michael Davies and W. R. Owens

Oxford Handbooks

Author Information

Edited by Michael Davies, Senior Lecturer in English, University of Liverpool, and W. R. Owens, Emeritus Professor of English Literature at the Open University, and Visiting Professor at the University of Bedfordshire

Michael Davies is Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Liverpool. Among his publications is Graceful Reading: Theology and Narrative in the Works of John Bunyan (2002). He is currently preparing a critical edition of The Bunyan Church Book, 1656-1710 for Oxford University Press.

W. R. Owens is Emeritus Professor of English Literature at the Open University, and Visiting Professor at the University of Bedfordshire. His publications include volumes XII and XIII of The Miscellaneous Works of John Bunyan (1994), editions of Grace Abounding (1987) and The Pilgrim's Progress (2003), The Canonisation of Daniel Defoe (co-author, 1988), A Critical Bibliography of Daniel Defoe (co-author, 1998), The Works of Daniel Defoe (joint General Editor, 44 volumes, 2000-2009), and an edition of The Gospels: Authorized King James Version (2011).

Contributors:

Lori Branch, University of Iowa
Sylvia Brown, University of Alberta
Vera J. Camden, Kent State University
Elizabeth Clarke, University of Warwick
John Coffey, University of Leicester
Julie Coleman, University of Leicester
Nathalie Collé, Université de Lorraine in Nancy
Michael Davies, University of Liverpool
The late Nick Davis
Gary Day, De Montfort University
Anne Dunan-Page, Aix-Marseille Université
Katsuhiro Engetsu, Doshisha University
Margaret J. M. Ezell, Texas A&M University
David Gay, University of Alberta
Maxine Hancock, Regent College
N. H. Keeble, University of Stirling
Mary Ann Lund, University of Leicester
Kathleen Lynch, Folger Shakespeare Library
Michael A. Mullett, University of Lancaster
Shannon Murray, University of Prince Edward Island
Vincent Newey, University of Leicester
W. R. Owens, Open University University of Bedfordshire
Roger Pooley, Keele University
Joel D. S. Rasmussen, University of Oxford
Isabel Rivers, Queen Mary University of London
Nancy Rosenfeld, Max Stern College of Jezreel Valley
Alison Searle, University of Leeds
Jonathon Shears, Keele University
Stuart Sim, formerly at Northumbria University
Ken Simpson, Thompson Rivers University
Nigel Smith, Princeton University
Tamsin Spargo, formerly at Liverpool John Moores University
Jeremy Tambling, formerly at Manchester University
Margaret Olofson Thickstun, Hamilton College
David Walker, Northumbria University
Cynthia Wall, University of Virginia
Dewey D. Wallace, Jr., The George Washington University
Arlette Zinck, The King's University in Edmonton

The Oxford Handbook of John Bunyan

Edited by Michael Davies and W. R. Owens

Oxford Handbooks

Reviews and Awards

Winner of the Richard L. Greaves Prize of the International John Bunyan Society

"There can be no doubting the worth of this remarkable collection of essays on all things Bunyan. It is a celebration of the last fruitful few decades in which Bunyan Studies has come into its own. This is also a monumental work: nearly seven-hundred pages long; structured with elegant coherence in four parts; comprising no less than 38 essays plus an introduction; and including the mature work of so many capable scholars at the top of their game. The sheer magnitude of the volume, together with the vision, labour and ambition of the editors, is impressive." - Tim Cooper, The Journal of Andrew Fuller Studies

"This beautifully-produced volume is coherent, wide-ranging, and full of delights. It brings together a global roster of Bunyan experts from the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, France, Japan and Israel who write with confidence on topics that they have pursued throughout their careers. Contributors cite each other's work frequently, creating a strong sense of respect for foregoing scholarship and creating a dynamic of long-running conversations being picked up and pursued. A volume could not contain more expertise that this." - Tessa Whitehouse, XVII-XVIII: Revue de la Société d'études anglo-américaines des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles

"With an impressive range of high-quality contributions from the best scholars in the field, The Oxford Handbook of John Bunyan was always likely to become the most important single volume guide to this hugely significant puritan writer for a generation; what cannot have been foreknown (although it must have been pre-planned at length) is the sheer delight with which the reader peruses this elegantly constructed and beautifully readable account of the order and structure of Bunyan's mental and physical worlds." - Mark Burden, University of Bristol, The Seventeenth Century

"[The book] is an extensive resource that will be consulted by people seeking an informative yet focussed introduction to the man, his works, his times and his influence." - Stephen Copson, Baptist Quarterly

"This is the ideal book for all Bunyan enthusiasts both within and without the churches ... the editors are to be congratulated not only on a wide-ranging choice of essay topics ... Oxford University Press has produced a handsome volume which would be welcome on most book lovers' shelves." - Alan Argent, Congregational History Society Magazine