Histories that Mansoul and Her Wars Anatomize
The Drama of Redemption in John Bunyan's Holy War
by Robert J McKelvey
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 instill 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.
- By (author) Robert J McKelvey
Other Titles in this Series
Calvinus clarissimus theologus
Papers of the Tenth International Congress on Calvin Research
Volume 18
The Promise of the Trinity
The Covenant of Redemption in the Theologies of Witsius, Owen, Dickson, Goodwin, and Cocceius
Volume 48
Beyond Calvin
Union with Christ and Justification in Early Modern Reformed Theology (1517-1700)
Volume 20
Omnes in Adam ex pacto Dei
Ambrogio Catarino's Doctrine of Covenantal Solidarity and Its Influence on Post-Reformation Reformed Theologians
Volume 8
Reprobation: from Augustine to the Synod of Dort
The Historical Development of the Reformed Doctrine of Reprobation
Volume 63
Reformed Evangelicalism and the Search for a Usable Past
The Historiography of Arnold Dallimore, Pastor-Historian
Volume 61
Mysterium Christi spiritualis praesentiae
Die Abendmahlslehre des Genfer Reformators Johannes Calvin aus romisch-katholischer Perspektive
Volume 19
Christ and the Old Covenant
Francis Turretin (1623-1687) on Christ's Suretyship under the Old Testament
Volume 51
Symphonia Catholica
The Merger of Patristic and Contemporary Sources in the Theological Method of Amandus Polanus (1561-1610)
Volume 30
Calvin, Exile, and Religious Refugees
Papers of the Thirteenth International Congress on Calvin Research
Volume 78
Reformed Covenantal Eudaimonism
Wilhelmus à Brakel (1635–1711) on Highest Good, Virtue, and Law
Volume 87
Orthodox, Puritan, Baptist
Hercules Collins (1647-1702) and Particular Baptist Identity in Early Modern England
Volume 32
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