John Bunyan is well known as the author of The Pilgrim's Progress, the seventeenth-century spiritual classic which has been the second best-selling book in the world after the Bible. He was also a much-loved preacher and pastor whom crowds flocked to hear after his release from prison. One contemporary wrote that he 'could weep for joy most part of his sermons'.

But how did Bunyan become such a preacher and writer? In this book you will discover the path which prepared him to be greatly used as a pastor to his own generation and a guide to Christ's pilgrim people still.

'In this new and well-written biography Faith Cook relates John Bunyan to the turbulent times through which he lived, surviving two periods of imprisonment in Bedford prison, sustained by his faith, determined, as he himself wrote ‘to live upon God that is invisible’.

Faith Cook avoids the temptation of merely regarding Bunyan as one of the great figures of English literature. That he certainly is, but he is so much more – a physician of souls, much-loved pastor and powerful preacher of the gospel of grace. The authoress skilfully relates her subject to the political history of his times, in which nonconformists won a greater measure of freedom to worship according to their understanding of the Bible during the Cromwellian period, only to be restricted again after the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660.

Bunyan emerges from this book as a writer of plain yet remarkably imaginative prose, steeped in an amazing knowledge of the English Bible. That knowledge is not just textual: it is deeply experimental, the fruit of much meditation, as The Pilgrim’s Progress particularly shows.

'This could equally well be placed in the category Church History, so well does Faith Cook set John Bunyan's life into his times. In her usual very readable style, she takes us through Bunyan's life, at the same time setting the scene so vividly that you feel involved with all his ups and downs. These were volatile times when any freethinker was in danger. One so determined to preach the Gospel in his chosen manner was inevitably going to make enemies and the hatred and evil doing of so many of these enemies is frightening to read about. Yet his wonderful writings were the result of his troubles; imprisonment, bereavement and of course his turmoil as he sought his way to his Lord. Not only the universally known Pilgrim's Progress but many other books and tracts that still help Christians find their way in the twenty first century. Whether you already know the story of John Bunyan or not, this book is well worth reading, you are sure to learn things you didn't know.'
Review taken from www.thegoodbookstall.co.uk

I finished reading 'Fearless Pilgrim', Faith Cook's excellent biography of John Bunyan, last week.  Although I'm not sure it is as well written as, say, Jonathan Aitken's biography of John Newton, it was still a very good read. I thoroughly recommend it.  I knew very little about John Bunyan before reading the book, and was struck by three things in particular...

1. His long search for assurance. Early on in his Christian life he faced long periods of doubt and despair, wracked by guilt, fearful that he had committed the unforgivable sin and lost his salvation. One period at this time even came to be known as 'the battle of the texts'. Cook writes, "First one Scripture would comfort his soul, and then all consolation it provided would be cancelled out as he discovered another verse, probably taken out of context, misinterpreted it and used it to condemn himself." (p.112) Bunyan experienced little relief from what Cook calls "this appalling downward spiral" (p.114), until "a strange intervention" which resulted in "a great calm in my soul". (p.115) Although he experienced no immediate deliverance, this event was a turning point in his life. Gradually he began to understand those verses which had so frightened him, and God gave him strength to believe despite his fears. Bunyan's search for assurance is described in his book, 'Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners', which was written about 10 years after the events. His purpose in writing was to help young believers who might be facing similar struggles.
2. How much he suffered. John Bunyan died at the age of 59, bearing the 'marks and scars' of a life lived for Christ. Cook writes, "Like Mr Valiant-for-truth, John Bunyan had indeed been a fearless and noble pilgrim, constant to the end, and now too he could say: My sword I give to him that shall succeed me in my pilgrimage, and my courage and skill to him that can get it. My marks and scars I carry with me, to be a witness for me that I have fought his battles, who will now be my rewarder." (pp.444-445) Those 'marks and scars' "were created by unremitting government persecution, a weakened constitution after almost thirteen years spent in jail and the personal jibes and wicked innuendos so often levelled again him by his enemies. These together with his tireless endeavours in preaching and writing, had taken an exacting toll on his remaining strength." (p.445) The question we might well ask is, 'How did he endure?' In 'Advice to Sufferers' Bunyan outlines the lesson that he had learnt as he faced his first imprisonment: "I was made to see that if ever I would suffer rightly, I must first pass a sentence of death upon everything that can properly be called a thing of this life, even to reckon myself, my wife, my children, my health, my enjoyments and all as dead to me, and myself as dead to them." (p.409)
3. How much he wrote. The only thing of Bunyan's that I'd read before this was 'Pilgrim's Progress'. Having read 'Fearless Pilgrim', I'm very keen to read it again, together with a number of his other works. I had no idea just how much he wrote. All in all, he wrote 57 works. Towards the end of his life, he wrote ten new titles between 1687-88! Cook writes, "Quite apart from the mental agility required to produce all this new material, such an accomplishment was an even more remarkable achievement in days when everything had to be written by hand. Patiently Bunyan must have had to keep sharpening the ends of his quill with his pen-knife, dipping them again and again in his inkpot. In a computer age, it is scarcely imaginable how he could have done all this in such a short space of time. Nor were these mere booklets; some were of considerable length." (p.433)

I really enjoyed this book. I put it down thanking God for the example of John Bunyan and praying that he would make me a 'fearless pilgrim'.
Review from: www.fwiwblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/fearless-pilgrim.html