The Holy War: Annotated Companion to 'The Pilgrim's Progress'

• Published in: Bunyan studies no. 18; p. 155
• Main Author: Engetsu, Katsuhiro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Newcastle Upon Tyne Northumbria University, Department of Humanities, Faculty of Arts, Design and Social Sciences 01.01.2014
• Subjects: Alcott, Louisa May (1832-1888); American literature; British & Irish literature; Bunyan, John (1628-1688); Bunyan, John (1628-88); Dickens, Charles (1812-1870); English literature; Hawthorne, Nathaniel (1804-1864); Hirohito, Emperor of Japan (1901-89); Lewis, C S (1898-1963); Thackeray, William Makepeace (1811-1863); Twain, Mark (Samuel Langhorne Clemens) (1835-1910)
• ISSN: 0954-0970

The primary strategy of Runyon's edition is to annotate the text - including marginal notes - generously for general readers as well as specialists to recognise the 'master story' or Biblical narrative that underlies Bunyan's whole works; the reliable theoretical framework has been advanced by the editor's own substantial study of the topic - John Bunyan's Master Story: 'The Holy War' as Battle Allegory in Religious and Biblical Context (2007). Since the Apocalyptic vision is one of the most important shared concerns of Bunyan's battle and journey allegories, Runyon's footnotes together with the meticulous 'Scripture Index' enable us to find the driving force of the narrative common both to The Holy War and to The Pilgrim's Progress. The relationship between Bunyan and post-war society reminds me of the Imperial Rescript on the Construction of a New Japan issued on 1 January 1946 - the first new year after the end of World War II - in which Emperor Hirohito encouraged Japanese people to construct a democratic society.