This is a slightly unusual one to review – the book, Pilgrim’s Progress is of course a classic, timelessly presenting a journey of faith, through the ups and downs of a lifetime following Christ.
The original, which I last read three or four years ago, does use language that can be harder to access, and so a more modern “translation” is a welcome read – perhaps more of a modern day re-telling thana translation. The risk of course, is that a translation could be fraught with the danger of losing much of the original beauty, poetry and depth of meaning. This version avoids that pitfall, presenting all of the original meaning, whilst being a little more accessible to the modern-day reader.
The author (Shawn P Robinson, not John Bunyan) includes notes explaining why certain editorial decisions were made. The text also keeps Bunyan’s original poetry and songs at the end of each chapter, as a nod to the original, plus Shawn humbly states that he may not be able to do justice to a re-writing of these elements.
Overall, a great way to re-read a classic, and dare I say even offering the reader an opportunity the get more depth of understanding out of the story than the original.
Pilgrim’s Progress Re-Walked, by Shawn P. Robinson, is available here.
Thanks to Booksirens for a gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.
