The Pilgrim’s Progress: Another Christmas book?
Sitting next to me on the desk here in the office is John Bunyan's A Pilgrim's Progress, retold by Geraldine McCaughrean and illustrated by Jason Cockcroft.
Whenever I read retellings of Pilgrim's Progress, it reminds me how much I love the original. The main character, Christian, is a deeply attractive person who struggles with all the normal doubts and fears of a Christian life. He is easily led astray sometimes by shortcuts and apparently wise companions (although with names like Obstinate, Pliable, Mr Worldly Wiseman, Formalist, Hypocrisy, Talkative, or indeed “Mr. Smooth-man, Mr. Facing-both-ways, Mr. Any-thing; and the parson of our parish, Mr. Two-tongues”, you occasionally wonder whether maybe Christian could've picked up a few more clues. [Is anyone else thinking “My name's Smoke-too-much—Mr I-smoke too-much” from Monty Python?])
One of the best parts of the book is where Christian and his friend Hopeful come to a river of deep waters that all must pass through before they attain the Heavenly city, the New Jerusalem. Peter Jensen read from this passage at Bruce Smith's funeral a few years ago:
Hopeful therefore here had much ado to keep his brother’s head above water; yea, sometimes he would be quite gone down, and then, ere a while, he would rise up again half dead. Hopeful did also endeavor to comfort him, saying, Brother, I see the gate, and men standing by to receive us; but Christian would answer, It is you, it is you they wait for; for you have been hopeful ever since I knew you. And so have you, said he to Christian. Ah, brother, (said he,) surely if I was right he would now arise to help me; but for my sins he hath brought me into the snare, and hath left me. Then said Hopeful, My brother, you have quite forgot the text where it is said of the wicked, “There are no bands in their death, but their strength is firm; they are not troubled as other men, neither are they plagued like other men.” Psa. 73:4,5. These troubles and distresses that you go through in these waters, are no sign that God hath forsaken you; but are sent to try you, whether you will call to mind that which heretofore you have received of his goodness, and live upon him in your distresses.
Then I saw in my dream, that Christian was in a muse a while. To whom also Hopeful added these words, Be of good cheer, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole. And with that Christian brake out with a loud voice, Oh, I see him again; and he tells me, “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee.” Isa. 43:2. Then they both took courage, and the enemy was after that as still as a stone, until they were gone over. Christian, therefore, presently found ground to stand upon, and so it followed that the rest of the river was but shallow. Thus they got over.
Now, upon the bank of the river, on the other side, they saw the two shining men again, who there waited for them. Wherefore, being come out of the river, they saluted them, saying, We are ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for those that shall be the heirs of salvation. Thus they went along towards the gate.
Now you must note, that the city stood upon a mighty hill; but the pilgrims went up that hill with ease, because they had these two men to lead them up by the arms: they had likewise left their mortal garments behind them in the river; for though they went in with them, they came out without them. They therefore went up here with much agility and speed, though the foundation upon which the city was framed was higher than the clouds; they therefore went up through the region of the air, sweetly talking as they went, being comforted because they safely got over the river, and had such glorious companions to attend them.
John Bunyan writes with insight and sympathy about the fear of death, and because he does this so well, the comforts he offers about the glories and joys of heaven are all the more reassuring. I find it hard to read this passage without tears in my eyes.
Which brings us back to Geraldine McCaurean's enjoyable retelling of the original. A few years back, this particular book won a couple of Blue Peter awards, and you can see why. The sex changes of one or two of the characters comes as a minor jolt, but I don't suppose the kids will notice or mind that, for example, Hopeful is now a woman. Many of the names have been changed to protect the guilty: ‘Pliable’ has become ‘Mr Bendy’ and a certain ‘Mr Alec Smart’ appears on the scene to offer advice.
Other changes are slightly more disturbing, and all the more because they require a bit of close reading to pick them up. Bunyan's “cartloads of ... wholesome instructions” that the King (i.e. Jesus) had commanded to be sent to fill in the Slough of Despond has, in McCaughrean's version, expanded to include “stone statues of saints, plaster madonnas, oil paintings in heavy gilt frames ... and any amount of beautiful quarried marble”. That's hardly the sort of material that the Protestant Bunyan would depict God sending to help his people out of despair, and it's not a helpful addition to this book.
Here's another. In Bunyan's version, Hopeful and Christian are very close to the end of their journey when they are shown a door in a hill by some shepherds. Here it is in the original:
Then I saw in my dream, that the shepherds had them to another place in a bottom, where was a door on the side of a hill; and they opened the door, and bid them look in. They looked in, therefore, and saw that within it was very dark and smoky; they also thought that they heard there a rumbling noise, as of fire, and a cry of some tormented, and that they smelt the scent of brimstone. Then said Christian, What means this? The shepherds told them, This is a by-way to hell, a way that hypocrites go in at; namely, such as sell their birthright, with Esau; such as sell their Master, with Judas; such as blaspheme the Gospel, with Alexander; and that lie and dissemble, with Ananias and Sapphira his wife.
We're in no doubt that those who turn away from God are destined for hell. Here it is in the McCaughrean retelling:
“What's in there?” asked Hopeful, intrigued.
“Oh, just the way back,” said the shepherds ... “Do you want to see?”
The shepherds carefully open the door.
No horned demons or impish ghouls streamed out, no bubbling tar. There was just a chute of blackness on the other side, a tunnel falling away into Nothingness, a fast route to Nowhere.
That's not what Bunyan wrote. It's not even close. You couldn't read Bunyan and conclude that he was an annihilationist, a man who believed that, after judgement, we simply disappear into oblivion. In contrast, you can't read this retelling without feeling that the full biblical doctrine of judgement has been (not so subtly) undercut.
Furthermore, you can't read Bunyan's original without ending up knee-deep in Bible quotes by the second paragraph (all of them meticulously referenced). But these are absent from this retelling, or only hinted at. Yet the foundation of Bunyan's story (even though it is allegorical) is bedded firmly in the truths of Scripture. Without this, it's just another story (but a good one at that).
There's enough of the grace of the original and Bunyan's Bible allusions to make this rewritten version a book that could still have value. But I wouldn't buy it for my kids. I'm going to wait a couple of years and put the original Bunyan in their hands. Or maybe I'll read it with them and appreciate again the rich reminder of God's grace against the backdrop of his terrifying judgement of sin.
(If you really want to introduce young readers to The Pilgrim's Progress before taking them through the original, the adaptation to get is still Dangerous Journey by Oliver Hunkin. If you click on the link, you will get the first few pages, courtesy of Amazon. And here is the whole of the original text of The Pilgrim's Progress in various e-forms. If you are completely strapped for cash this Christmas, you could buy yourself a ream of discount white A4 and print the whole lot off. That should take care of one bookaholic teenager for you.)