'The Holy War: Ideology, Culture and Dissent in Bunyan's England'

• Published in: Bunyan studies no. 8; p. 82
• Main Author: Davies, Michael T
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Newcastle Upon Tyne Northumbria University, Department of Humanities, Faculty of Arts, Design and Social Sciences 01.01.1998
• Subjects: British & Irish literature; Bunyan, John (1628-1688); Bunyan, John (1628-88); English literature; Ideology
• ISSN: 0954-0970

While Bunyan's most famous works naturally received the most attention (with separate sessions for papers on Grace Abounding, The Pilgrim's Progress, The Life and Death of Mr Badman, and The Holy War respectively), this Conference also saw a number of refreshing readings of less popular Bunyan texts, such as Shannon Murray's (University of Prince Edward Island) authenceoriented approach to A Book for Boys and Girls, and David Walker's (University of Sunderland) radical politicisation of The Doctrine of Law and Grace Unfolded. A similarly impressive narrative and cultural analysis of Bunyan was also to be found in Margaret Breen' s (University of Connecticut) paper, 'Desert of the Heart: Jane Rule's Puritan Outing', a remarkable study of the 'crucial intersections' between Puritan and queer cultures, tracing the shared narrative structures and vocabularies within religious conversion accounts and gay coming-out stories, with Puritan imagery and traditional presentations of sexuality becoming radically reconfigured in the latter. Vivienne Evans of the Bedfordshire Heartlands Tourism Association presented an informative and thoroughly enjoyable evening lecture entitled 'In John Bunyan's Bedfordshire Today', an account (replete with visual aids) both of the landscape which imprints itself upon the pages of Bunyan's books and of the tourism that is now an important part of Bunyan's legacy to his home county. A quite different mode of Bunyan biography, however, came in the form of John and Robina Drakeford's (Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) dramatic presentation, 'John Bunyan, Immortal Dreamer, Preacher and Family Man', in which Bunyan's life and personal hard times were recounted and re-enacted in this memorable one man and woman performance.