1、A Brief Analysis of the Spiritual Journey in The Pilgrims Progress ContentsAbstract .1Introduction 3Chapter 1 Religious Background of The Pilgrims Progress51.1 I ntroduction on Christianity51.2 The Spiritual Journey Under the Influence of Religion.7Chapter 2 The Pilgrims Progress in Spiritual Plight
2、 102.1 Criticism in the Real World .102.2 Yearn for the Ideal Upopiathe Kingdom of God .11Chapter 3 The Spiritual Journey 143.1 Repentance of Sins.143.2 Resistance of Temptation.183.3 Severe Test for Loyalty.21 3.4 Perfection of Faithfulness and Righteousness24Conclusion.27Bibliography29Acknowledgem
3、ents.30A Brief Analysis of the Spiritual Journey inThe Pilgrims Progress Abstract: The Pilgrims Progress is the most representative religious fable in the United Kingdom literature. From the perspective of literary history, the status of John Bunyans The Pilgrims Progress has experienced changes of
4、vicissitudes. From works of religion to great works of literature, widespread criticism to high praise, and Britain to the world, the spiritual journey is the sole aspect stayed unchanged. This book, by describing the atonement experience of the characters, skillfully combines the religion and the r
5、eality to criticize the real world implicitly and profoundly. From the perspective of soul salvation and combining with religious background and critical realism, this thesis tries to explore the thought of soul salvation which is showed in the religious novel. And it has become a lamp lighting the
6、soul of human.Key words: The Pilgrims Progress; Soul Salvation; Religious Background; Critical Realism摘要：天路历程是英国文学史上最具代表性的宗教寓言故事。从文学史的角度来说，约翰班扬的天路历程的价值地位经历了沧桑变化。从宗教性到文学性，从贬斥到赞誉，从英国到世界，但唯一不变的是其“心路历程” 。小说通过描写人物的赎罪经历，巧妙地将宗教与现实结合，含蓄而深刻地对世事进行批判。本文将从文中基督徒灵魂拯救历程的视角下，结合宗教背景和现实批判，探究天路历程作为一部内涵十分丰富的宗教小说，所表现出来的
7、灵魂拯救的思想。成为点亮人类心灵的一盏明灯。关键词：天路历程 ；灵魂拯救；宗教背景；现实批判IntroductionJohn Bunyan is the most famous novelist and essayist of England in late Renaissance. His masterpiece The Pilgrims Progress,in 1678 created a stir not only in the United Kingdom literature, but also among the court nobles and the general publi
8、c. The Pilgrims Progress is an allegorical novel. As an important classic of Christianity, the allegorical work in Western countries ranks only second to the Bible. It is known as “the encyclopedia with eternal significance” and its also the United Kingdoms landmark in literary history. Meanwhile, i
9、t has a high degree of “aesthetic ideology”. As a work of great literary value in English literature, more than 300 years, The Pilgrims Progress broken up national, racial, religious and cultural boundaries and becomes popular around the world. It is regarded as “the search guide in life” and “spiri
10、tual Gospel”. So far, it has more than 200 versions of translation around the world. In addition to the Bible, it is the most widely spread and translated text.It consists of two parts, and only part one is the concern of this paper. This book, in fact, vividly explains the doctrines of the Bible in
11、 the form of allegory, and it tells a story of a man named Christian, who steps on the road to seek redemption in order to get rid of the heavy burden filled with sins.In the West, since The Pilgrims Progress has attracted the attention of scholars, people begin to have an in-depth and careful study
12、 to it. Their researches are mainly related to the following issues: the authors life; the characters in the novel; the dramatic processing and handling of The Pilgrims Progress; and its fable features; Bunyan and other works-the comparison between the Generous Gift and The Pilgrims Progress. After
13、the translation of The Pilgrims Progress into Chinese by Rev. William Burns around 1853, and it has been more than 100 years of history. However, the articles about it are still very rare. The writings about introductions or commentaries are scanty. At present, there are about 20 related articles de
14、voted to the study of The Pilgrims Progress, most of which are articles about rhetoric and translation of this novel. The Pilgrims Progress are not closely watched by Chinese scholars for a long time. The main reason for this is that a strong religious flavor which is contrary to the atheism thought
15、s hold by Chinese academic circles. In addition, the novel has quoted a large number of words from the Bible. For readers without a Christian background, the novel appears monotonous. This is why this artwork has not received extensive attention.Deepening of the cultural exchange today, reading The
16、Pilgrims Progress brings a great inspiration to us. This article analyses the four stages of the Christians spiritual journey from the perspective of theological studies and practical criticism, namely, repentance of sins, resistance of temptation, severe test for loyalty, and perfection of faithful
17、ness and righteousness. It shows the image of a awakened Christian who recognizes “original sin”, a fighter who takes the “Wicket Gate”, and a winner of “Kingdom of heaven”. To make people recognize that the cultivation of souls is not a pastime. It needs a lot of patience. In the meantime, it provi
18、des a model for modern people to rebuilt value and highlights the importance of firm beliefs.Chapter 1 Religious Background of The Pilgrims ProgressIn 17th century, the United Kingdom society is in the period of drastic changes. Religion, having a special status and influence in society, is bound to
19、 be drawn into dispute. It is at a time that capitalism is germinating, developing and violently colliding with feudal thoughts. As a supporter of capitalism, Bunyans works clearly reflect his opposition to the feudal the Church. With the help of The Pilgrims Progress and the doctrines of Christian,
20、 he makes great efforts to reveal social conflicts, promote human freedom and liberation1.1 Introduction on Christianity Christianity, Buddhism and Islam are the worlds three major religions. Christianity have the worlds largest number of religious believers. It is a monotheistic religion which all
21、believers regard of the Lord Jesus Christ as savior. Although Jesus Christ has created a unity of Christian churches. Christianity is divided into many religious sects in the historical development. Christianity can be divided into Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant. And each denomination ha
22、s its own branches. Puritan embraced by Bunyan is a branch of Protestantism. Protestant emphasizes on three principles, namely, justification by righteous faith, everyone can be a priest and the Bible is the highest authority. These principles clash with the Catholic Churchs. Justification by righte
23、ous faith is the core of Protestant. According to the Christians doctrine, because of original sin and the sin, man cant be saved and be righteous in front of God. The only method is to seek salvation from Christ who is the son of God and always send thanks to the world. Therefore, the source of sal
24、vation is from Gods grace. It is a common belief in all Christian sects. The heros trip in The Pilgrims Progress is completed by all of Gods grace and salvation. At the beginning of the process, Evangelist had given many constructive suggestions to Christian. And the Interpreter also gave him many i
25、nspirations and encouragements. Then with Faithfuls accompany and Shepherds comfort in Delectable Mountains, Christian confirmed his belief. Finally, under Hopefuls witness to belief, Christian was welcomed by many angels and entered into the heaven. These are the redemption and grace the God send e
26、ach Christian. As regard to the ways to obtain this grace, Catholicism advocates that man should also rely on the sacraments. In Protestants opinion, its a “transaction” between God and sacrament. Because the Catholic Church requires its believers to do Creeds or beneficence, such as Mass, sacrifice
27、, repentance and penance, remorse or compensation in order to receive Gods grace. Church officials have become the dominant agent of salvation. Protestants believe that this not only violates the Bibles Creeds, but also brings many drawbacks. Protestants believe that benefience, as it should be, is
28、an appearance of rebirth. Beneficence doesnt mean merits and virtues with the function to save. This view of salvation has taken a drastic measure to deal with the situation. Second, everyone can be a priest. This principle emphasizes that since Christians can be saved only by faith then each believ
29、e could be a priest. The clergies are no longer needed as intermediary between man and God. The idea is quite obviously embodied in part II of The Pilgrim Progress. The salvation of God is reflected not only in the hero, Gods salvation also happen to the Christians wife. The female Christian, follow
30、ing the road to heaven, also goes through the Wicket Gate, removes the fetters of sin on the cross, experiences the same temptations and trials in Vanity Fair and enters the eternal city in the praise of the angels. In addition, the believers can pray for one another and each believer has the right
31、and obligation to take care of each other and help each other in religious life. They have the responsibility to spread the Gospel. This will dilute or eliminate the differences between clergy and laymen. Third, the Bible is the highest authority. This principle is also aimed at the Catholic Church.
32、 Although Catholics havent denied the authority of the Bible, but they insist that the power of interpretation of the Bible belong to Church. Virtually, all questions about religious belief, including the tradition of the supreme authority of the Church focus on the Catholic Church and the Pope. Whi
33、le Protestantism claims the Bible is the only supreme authority and each believer can boot directly from the biblical understanding of Gods revelation of the Holy Spirit and truth. This is mainly reflected in the Pilgrims Progress in chapter three. Christian is cheated by Mr. Worldly Wiseman. He tur
34、ns to seek deliverance through the Law rather than Christ. Finally, he obtains the basic instructions of the Holy Spirit in the House of the Interpreter.1.2 The Spiritual Journey Under the Influence of Religion Christians doctrines point out that life flies. It will eventually die out with the comin
35、g of afterlife. Sins are spreaded all over this life. But in the process of alternating this life with the afterlife, it will be completely removed. Those who repents sins will experience the afterlife and step on the road to salvation. While those who with heavy guilty will not be saved in the afte
36、rlife. God warns that people must repent, for repentance is the first step to self-salvation. God has also been encouraging people to spare no efforts to struggle with sins, and the primary way to overcome sins in our hearts is to restrain our desires. However, in many cases, even if someone repents
37、, and embarks on the road to salvation, he may deviate from this divine path, for he is not believing in God enough. Believing in God is the only guarantee of salvation. God preferences on those who believe in God and are willing to help others. If a person truly loves God, he would love others, hel
38、p others, take them away from sins, follow the teachings of Gods mercy, and believe in Gods mercy and great harmony. If everybody does so, gradually, all souls will be led to salvation. Christians salvation doctrine make clearly that salvation is in fact a path to spiritual progress. In this way, a
39、mans soul will go through the process of repentance of sin, excepting evil and developing good, inhibiting desire, believing in God, loving God and others, and ultimately achieve a state of pure bliss.Under the inspiration and guidance of Christianity, John Bunyan described a textual character who w
40、as burdened by the baggage of sin to escape from the Destruction City which symbolized destruction of life. He had experienced original sin, repentance, conversion, faith, atonement, salvation and grace phases. After having experienced several baptism he eventually converted himself to God and compl
41、eted the redemption process. Along the way, difficulties interlacing with obstacles, temptations are interweaving with tests. He kept on struggling regardless of Mr. Worldlys secularism, the temptations of Apollyon, the dazzling of Vanity Fair, the horrifying of Giant Despair, the flagging of the En
42、chanted Ground and so on. At the same time his faithfulness and righteousness increased. Eventually, he atoned for his crime and entered the Kingdom of heaven. The Christian portrayed in the novel is the incarnation of human who seeks redemption. Through this fable novel, Bunyan revealed that nobody
43、 is perfect and born guilty. They should firm their belief, reflect over their original sins and strengthen the psychology of redeem sins like the Christian described in the book. Only in this way can people exempt sin, save soul and then gain the value of existence. When people have achieved the re
44、alm of eternal life and reached a merger between individual soul and sacred spirit, they can eventually obtain the value of life and complete the sublimation of life.Chapter 2 The Pilgrims Progress in Spiritual PlightThe scenes described in the Pilgrims, to some extent is the miniature of the United
45、 Kingdom. As a book of strong religious flavor, the Pilgrims Progress bears the writer Bunyans religious and moral ideals. And it presents the authors awareness of turbulent society and the revelation of corrupt life in the 17th century of United Kingdom. Whats more, it entrusts his hopes to change
46、reality and his strong aspiration to save the human spirit, and to seek a better home.2.1 Criticism in the Real WorldExploration of moral criticism and reconstruction of human spiritual world is one of the enduring themes in literature. The Pilgrims Progress is the work discussing real-world problem
47、s and spiritual reconstruction of life. It has an important position in British and American literature. The wicked world the Christian had experienced in The Pilgrims Progress, actually is a vivid portrayal of the real world of the authors. Profound reality and strong criticism are the most distinc
48、tive qualities in this book.His book is filled with a large number of names and place names of distinctive characteristics. These marked with distinctive names vividly show the authors moral world. Vanity Fair is the symbol of the amoral world full of evil and ugliness. Bunyan skillfully combines th
49、e individual production experience in the social life with the abstract moral concept. He has created many roles of different characteristics. Such as the sophisticated Mr. Worldly, ferocious Prince of the Devils, loyal Faithful, Obstinate, Charity, Hopeful, Envy, Timorous, Piety, Hypocrisy, Sloth, and Presumption and so on. This not only constitutes specific characters in the novel, but also represents the reality of different people in a variety of character. These names of distinctive characteristics have obviou
