The Name of the Prayer in The Holy War

• Published in: Bunyan studies no. 19; p. 98
• Main Author: Gay, David
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Newcastle Upon Tyne Northumbria University, Department of Humanities, Faculty of Arts, Design and Social Sciences 01.01.2015
• Subjects: Bible; British & Irish literature; Bunyan, John (1628-1688); Bunyan, John (1628-88); Christianity; English literature; Inventors; Names; Religious persecution; Religious wars; Rites & ceremonies; Spirituality; United Kingdom > UK; England
• ISSN: 0954-0970

The gloss also emphasizes inwardness, since the instrument is inside Mansoul. [...]readers encounter both the objective emblem of a spiritual weapon and a reminder that the weapon expresses part of the inner constitution of the Dissenting conscience. [...]Bunyan enthusiastically places allegorical labels on everything within reach, yet he will only label this machine 'nameless'. [...]the enigma persists, as Bunyan no doubt intended, and new questions arise. [...]he provides an explanation for the role of Captain Credence, who operates the nameless instrument: 'one word spoken in Faith, is better than a thousand prayers, as men call them, written and read, in a formal, cold, luke-warm way' (p. 252).