John Bunyan was born in 1628 in Elstow, Bedfordshire, England to a poor brazier. He received little formal education. However, he did know how to read and write, and eventually he chose a career as a tinker (someone who mends pots and kettles). At sixteen, he joined the parliamentary army and was stationed for three years at Newport Pagnell.
1650 was a momentous year for Bunyan. He got married, witnessed the birth of his first child (of six), and began to undergo a religious conversion. His first daughter, Mary, was blind, and her condition seems to have lead Bunyan to re-evaluate his life. He was haunted by his sins and found solace in the two books that his wife brought in her dowry:...
