McKelvey Histories that Mansoul and Her Wars Anatomize

The Drama of Redemption in John Bunyan’s Holy War
1. Auflage 2011
ISBN: 978-3-647-56939-0
Verlag: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, Band Band 015, 336 Seiten

Reihe: Reformed Historical Theology

Robert McKelvey argues that John Bunyan wrote The Holy War as a warfare allegory symbolizing the salvation history of Scripture from a Calvinistic-covenantal perspective. In this cosmic drama of redemption, the “Histories That Mansoul, and her Wars Anatomize” include the individual-soteric-microcosmic level or ordo salutis unfolding analogous to the redemptive-historical-macrocosmic level or historia salutis. The eternal covenant of redemption provides the foundation for this history of salvation, which progresses from creation to the anticipation of consummation. This scheme finds its roots in the Puritan philosophy of “universal history” which sees all historical events serving God’s redemptive purposes. The individual, through union with Christ founded on election, participates in the drama by inclusion within the trans-historical covenant of grace. As a depiction of cosmic war, The Holy War sets forth the enmity between the church and Antichrist, which is representative of the greater battle between Christ and the devil from Genesis to Revelation. As a pastoral guide to persecuted saints, Bunyan retrospectively rehearses the history of redemption to grant comfort. In addition, he prospectively reveals the consummation of redemption to encourage perseverance and instil eschatological hope. This thesis is substantiated contextually through Bunyan’s life and writings, historiographically by surveying the history of Holy War interpretation, pre-textually by examining the introduction to the allegory, and textually by analyzing the allegory itself.

Autoren/Hrsg.

McKelvey, Robert J.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Systematische Theologie Geschichte der Theologie, Einzelne Theologen
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Englische Literatur

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Front Cover
;1
2;Title Page
;4
3;Copyright
;5
4;Table of Contents
;6
5;Preface;10
6;1. Introduction;12
6.1;1.1 The Question of Ultimate Meaning;12
6.2;1.2 Statement of Thesis;15
6.3;1.3 Methodology;17
7;2. The Road to Mansoul;22
7.1;2.1 The Importance of Context;22
7.2;2.2 Preparation for War amidst Abounding Grace, 1628-1660;23
7.2.1;2.2.1 Bunyan's Background;23
7.2.2;2.2.2 Bunyan as a Soldier;26
7.2.3;2.2.3 Bunyan as a Spiritual Struggler;28
7.2.4;2.2.4 Bunyan as a Preacher;32
7.2.5;2.2.5 Bunyan as a Polemical and Doctrinal Writer;33
7.2.5.1;2.2.5.1 Doctrinal Stratagems of the Devil;35
7.2.5.2;2.2.5.2 Present Mercy and Future Judgment;39
7.2.5.3;2.2.5.3 Covenantal Foundations Unfolded;45
7.3;2.3 The Tumult of War in the Midst of Settlement, 1660-1688;74
7.3.1;2.3.1 Lessons from Prison;76
7.3.2;2.3.2 The City to Come;81
7.3.3;2.3.3 Hope in the Lord;90
7.3.4;2.3.4 The Overthrow of Antichrist;94
7.3.5;2.3.5 Counsel for Sufferers;108
7.4;2.4 Analysis;112
8;3. Mansoul through History;113
8.1;3.1 From the Birth of His Work to the Tercentenary His Birth;113
8.1.1;3.1.1 The Seventeenth Century;113
8.1.2;3.1.2 The Eighteenth Century;114
8.1.3;3.1.3 The Nineteenth Century;119
8.1.4;3.1.4 The Twentieth Century to 1928;123
8.2;3.2 From Mechanick Preacher to Postmodernism;127
8.2.1;3.2.1 The Radical-Historical Perspective;128
8.2.2;3.2.2 The Broadly-Evangelical Perspective;130
8.2.3;3.2.3 The Theological-Evangelical Perspective ;132
8.2.4;3.2.4 The Marxist Perspective;145
8.2.4.1;3.2.5 The Psychoanalytical Perspective;149
8.2.4.1.1;3.2.6 The Postmodern Perspective;154
8.2.4.2;3.3 Analysis;161
9;4. In the Porch of Mansoul with a Torch;164
9.1;4.1 To the Reader;164
9.2;4.2 Excelling Their Equals in Historiology;164
9.2.1;4.2.1 The Wisdom of Men;164
9.2.2;4.2.2 The Histories in Question;166
9.3;4.3 Histories that Mansoul and Her Wars Anatomize;168
9.3.1;4.3.1 A Philosophy of History;168
9.3.2;4.3.2 The Theme of Warfaring;185
9.4;4.4 True Stories from the Best of Records;193
9.4.1;4.4.1 Bunyan's Doctrine of Scripture;193
9.4.2;4.4.2 Bunyan's Approach to the Scriptures;199
9.4.3;4.4.3 Bunyan's Use of Allegory;211
9.5;4.5 Do No Work without the Key;218
9.5.1;4.5.1 Clarifying Perspicuity;218
9.5.2;4.5.2 A Glossy Key in a Glazed Window;220
9.6;4.6 Analysis;230
10;5. The Drama of Mansoul;231
10.1;5.1 The Fall of Mansoul;231
10.1.1;5.1.1 The Journey into Universe;231
10.1.2;5.1.2 The Creation of Mansoul;233
10.1.3;5.1.3 The Fall of Diabolus;242
10.1.4;5.1.4 The Demise of the Town;245
10.2;5.2 The Redemption of Mansoul;250
10.3;5.2.1 The Covenant of Shaddai and Emanuel;250
10.3.1;5.2.2 The Provision of Relief by Emanuel;258
10.3.2;5.2.3 The Conquest of the Town;262
10.4;5.3 The Regression of Mansoul;279
10.4.1;5.3.1 The Apostasy of Mansoul;279
10.4.2;5.3.2 The Army of Doubters;282
10.5;5.4 The Restoration of Mansoul;283
10.5.1;5.4.1 The Early Stages of Restoration;283
10.5.2;5.4.2 The Sword of Emanuel;287
10.5.3;5.4.3 The Attack of Doubters and Bloodmen;289
10.5.4;5.4.4 The Blessed State of Mansoul ;294
10.5.5;5.4.5 The Hanging Ending for Mansoul;300
10.5.5.1;5.5 Analysis;302
11;6. Conclusion;304
12;7. Appendix;311
13;Abbreviations;315
14;Bibliography;316
14.1;Primary Sources;316
14.2;Secondary Sources;321
15;Index ;333
16;Back Cover
;338

Leseproben

"4.3.2 The Theme of Warfaring (S. 184-185)

Turning from redemptive history to the literary theme of warfaring, the concept was by no means novel to Bunyan or seventeenth-century English thought. Roger Sharrock and James Forrest call attention to the fact that the above image “is very old and is commonly found associated with the general theme of the psychomachia or war between virtues and vices.”74 The literary theme of soul or virtue struggle dates back to the fourth century, though it finds its original source in Scripture.

The theme flourished in English works from the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries through the treatment of such topics as man depicted as a defended castle, human senses as the gates of the soul by which sin gains entrance, Christians in a city of unity besieged by Antichrist and his army, and the siege of virtues and the human soul. Arlette Zinck places The Holy War within the theological motif of psychomachy, which denotes a holy war within the individual soul or the inner conflict experienced in sanctification.

For the Reformers and Puritans in sixteenth and seventeenth-century England, psychomachy was “more than a theological concept”; it was a metaphor that dominated their daily lives.75 Zinck provides two broad similarities of the tracts giving instruction in the theme of warfaring: the illumination of “satanic wiles and stratagems” and instruction “in the use of spiritual defences or armours.”76

Sharrock argues that Bunyan was unaware of the history of psychomachy but had probably read The Isle of Man (1630). James B. Wharey was even more convinced: “That Bunyan was familiar with Bernard’s allegory, and that he was influenced by it, possibly in the Pilgrim’s Progress, certainly in the Holy War, scarcely admits of doubt.”77 Wharey points out at least the following similarities between The Isle of Man and The Holy War:

1. Bernard’s town of Manshire within the Isle of Man corresponding to Bunyan’s Mansoul within the country of Universe; 2. The heart as an Inn to the heart as a stately palace; 3. The five Inn-doors of Hearing, Seeing, Tasting, Smelling and Feeling to the Mansoul-gates of Ear-gate, Eye-gate, Mouth-gate, Nose-gate, and Feel-gate; 4. The character Wilful Will to Lord Willbewill; 5. The jailer New-man to the jailer True-man; 6. The chief constable Illuminated Understanding to the Lord Mayor Mr. Understanding; 7. Conscience, the judge of assizes to Conscience the recorder; and 8. The trial of Sin to the trial of the Diabolonians.78 In the end, the differences are greater than the similarities between the works. If Bunyan did indeed read the work, the greater impact beyond the similar names appears to be the trial scenes where abstractions are called to the bar and charged, examined, testified against, and indicted."

Über Autor(innen)

McKelvey, Robert J.
Robert J. McKelvey ist Lehrbeauftragter für Historische und Praktische Theologie am John Wycliffe Theological College in Randburg / in Zusammenarbeit mit der North West University in Südafrika.