Blog | Professor Pilgrim's Progress

Jan 29, 20233 min read

Modern English Versions- Author's Apology

Nothing puts Bunyan's classic in its seventeenth-century context more than the Author's Apology. Bunyan puts a long poem before the...

andydraycott7

Jan 27, 20231 min read

Modern English Versions

It's an interesting question as to when a modernized version becomes an adaptation? In any case, today I was asked again about my...

Christian's missing armor (and a missing "u") and extra weapon!

andydraycott7

Jan 24, 20234 min read

Christian's missing armor (and a missing "u") and extra weapon!

(Editions of PP in the US conform to US spelling - so the "u" is missing from how Bunyan spelled "armour." This is actually not so easy...

Imagining Christian's 'raiment' (and the Letter to Diognetus) with Vivian's Creative Project

andydraycott7

Jan 21, 20233 min read

Imagining Christian's 'raiment' (and the Letter to Diognetus) with Vivian's Creative Project

One way that the New Testament depicts conversion is putting off the old self and putting on Christ. The language speaks to what we call...

andydraycott7

Jan 11, 20233 min read

Puritan Edition?

People have all sorts of notions when they hear the word 'Puritan'. For some it means a 'kill-joy' or someone who is morally censorious -...

Praises or Prayers, and the limits of editing license.

andydraycott7

Jan 10, 20232 min read

Praises or Prayers, and the limits of editing license.

It's probably worth noting in this space that a lot of my research and writing time this season is dedicated to work on a new edition of...

andydraycott7

Jan 3, 20231 min read

With or without armor?

I remember reading that the director of the recent animated movie of The Pilgrim's Progress regretted that, because Christian put on...

Before the 12 days are over, here are PP lyrics 9, 10 & 11

andydraycott7

Jan 1, 20231 min read

Before the 12 days are over, here are PP lyrics 9, 10 & 11

Happy New Year! Here are Noelle's final three PP lyrics to Christmas song tunes. I hope they've been enjoyable. All students who produce...

andydraycott7

Dec 23, 20221 min read

6,7,8: 3 Fresh-Penned

Here are another batch of Noelle's PP seasonal tune lyrics, with an aptly chosen minor key feel to the Battle with Apollyon to "White...

For the fifth song of Christmas, my student gave to...

andydraycott7

Dec 20, 20221 min read

For the fifth song of Christmas, my student gave to...

Well, no, not that tune, although I'm sure a PP version could be compiled... In the meantime, here's Noelle's take on the Cross and the...

For Noelle's fourth song of Christmas...

andydraycott7

Dec 19, 20221 min read

For Noelle's fourth song of Christmas...

...we have a take on Christian's, and Christiana and Mercy's visits to the House of the Interpreter, to the tune of Silent Night.

O Come, All Ye (who are tempted away from the path...)

andydraycott7

Dec 17, 20221 min read

O Come, All Ye (who are tempted away from the path...)

Here is Noelle's third set of PP lyrics, this time to be sung to the tune of O Come, All Ye Faithful - this one has more of a tone of...

andydraycott7

Dec 16, 20221 min read

PP Christmas Song #2, by Noelle Chow

Here's the second of Noelle's Pilgrim's Progress lyrics set to popular Christmas song tunes: Enjoy!

Singing toward Christmas with Pilgrim's Progress, by Noelle Chow

andydraycott7

Dec 15, 20221 min read

Singing toward Christmas with Pilgrim's Progress, by Noelle Chow

My colleague, Ken Berding, is a firm advocate of the benefit of singing in helping students learn and recall their New Testament Greek...

Talking about Talkative - cut and paste variorum

andydraycott7

Dec 7, 20222 min read

Talking about Talkative - cut and paste variorum

A while back I started scanning/photocopying, printing, and cutting and pasting a compilation of editorial annotations to the text of PP...

And in come Warner with Ann, and Poppy...

andydraycott7

Nov 21, 20222 min read

And in come Warner with Ann, and Poppy...

I've added a couple of other characters to my study of readers' marginalia. Two more annotated copies of PP have come into my possession,...

Talking about taking the way of holiness

andydraycott7

Nov 19, 20222 min read

Talking about taking the way of holiness

This last week was the annual conference of the Evangelical Theological Society, held in Denver, CO. As ever, it was great to travel with...

andydraycott7

Sep 13, 20222 min read

Talking with Talkative or not really?

In class seminar today we discussed Christian and Faithful's meeting with Talkative. We recognized that in our Christian university...

A Lutheran, a Methodist, and a Salvationist all walk into a bar...

andydraycott7

Aug 8, 20223 min read

A Lutheran, a Methodist, and a Salvationist all walk into a bar...

... and John Bunyan, in dreaming persona, asks them if they are merely for talking at the ale-bench, or if their lives conform to...

aided by the towering genius of Charles Schulz

andydraycott7

Aug 4, 20221 min read

aided by the towering genius of Charles Schulz

I'm glad of my Biola office with a desk that can adjust heights - to let me stand or sit as I work. At home the situation is a little...