The Pilgrim’s Progress

Though known to members of his community by the nickname "Bishop Bunyan," the author of The Pilgrim's Progress was actually a member of a Puritan sect that shunned the concept of religious authority. Bunyan's skills as a lay preacher were considerable; after the Restoration, he landed in jail for refusing to comply with Church of England regulations. His religious fervor and propensity for exaggeration have been described by twentieth-century psychologists as bordering on psychopathic obsession.