John Bunyan, the English writer, nonconformist preacher, and author of Pilgrim's Progress, received only a very elementary schooling. At an early age he worked with his father, a tinker. John's talent as a tinker was shown in the area of music. A lack of money for buying instruments failed to deter him. He hammered a violin out of iron, and later carved a flute from one of the legs of a four-legged stool among his prison room's sparse furnishings. After a short military career in the Parliamentary army, he returned and became notorious in the village for his cursing, blasphemy, Sabbath-breaking, and other profane amusements. Partly through the influence of his first wife, he began to reflect on his sins and inward pollution, and to suffer periods of guilt and despair; he feared he might have been predestined to eternal damnation.

Fortunately he came under the influence of John Gifford, a minister in Bedford, of whom Bunyan later comments, "He did much for my stability." He also received great help from a tattered old copy of Martin Luther's commentary on Galations; he later said he preferred this book over all the books he'd seen excepting the Bible. Around 1656 Bunyan's wife died, leaving him with four small children, one of them blind.Hearing a call to the ministry he began to preach in neighborhoods, though not licensed to do so. After the restoration of monarchy in 1660, the law against unlicensed non-conformist preachers was enforced with rigor, and he was arrested and placed in jail. After he was sentenced in 1661 (initially for three months), he refused to assure authorities that he would refrain from preaching if released, which prolonged his imprisonment until 1672. During his imprisonment, authorities granted him some time out of prison. Records show he attended several church meetings during those furloughs. While imprisoned he made shoe laces to support his family, preached to other prisoners, and wrote various works.

The book he is most remembered for is Pilgrim's Progress, published in 1678.When the great missionary surge began, Protestants translated into various dialects first the Bible, then Pilgrim's Progress. His reputation as a preacher made him a speaker in demand as far away as London. Bunyan was a born storyteller, capable of writing narratives of great imaginative power. His readers are likely to think of his characters as real persons. Every incident in his books probes into humanity's common problems and torments, including "Christian's search for salvation." Bunyan emphasized his humble birth, not in any way hinting at snobbery, but as a way of attributing solely to God the credit for what he'd become.

Pilgrim's Progress was reprinted more than a dozen times in ten years, unprecedented in English publishing history. After riding on horseback in a heavy rainstorm, Bunyan contracted a fever. He died in 1688 at the home of a friend in London.