Universities Must Again Take Religion Seriously

Embarrassingly, it took me until my fifties to read Pilgrim’s Progress—an omission I cannot pretend was due to obscurity or inaccessibility.  A book in continuous print since 1678 and arguably more influential in the English-speaking world than any other text besides the Bible itself, John Bunyan’s masterwork remains a touchstone of Western religious and secular culture alike.  At home, our three copies include my grandparents’, parents’, and our own, in different stages of physical wear and language modernization.  Yet despite my early grounding in the faith and knowledge of the text’s religious, historical, and cultural significance, it took me decades to finally read it for myself.  Read Full Article »