The Postmodern Pilgrim’s Progress: An Allegorical Tale by Kyle Mann and Joel Berry. Salem Books. 224 pages. 2022
***

This book is inspired by the classic The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan. Written by two of the editors of the satire site The Babylon Bee, the book is filled with wit and humor, including many nods to current culture, including films and perhaps even a prosperity preacher that you might recognize.
Our guide is “The Narrator”, described as an “essentially immortal being”. The Narrator was created by the First Being, who tasked him with chronicling the dream of a thirty-three-year-old Earth-dwelling image-bearer agnostic named Ryan. Ryan’s younger brother Matthew had died of brain cancer two weeks earlier. On the day of Matthew’s death, he had asked Ryan to go to church again, at least once. Ryan promised that he would, so he soon finds himself at the Ignite Christian Collective megachurch. The only seat he can find is right in the front. After the preacher says, “God will NEVER give you more than you can handle!”, Ryan screams out “LIAR!” Not long after that, the projector on which the worship song lyrics were projected, fell and hit Ryan on the head.
Ryan felt himself falling, eventually waking up in a bed. Ryan, or perhaps his name is Christian, notices how calm and peaceful The City of Destruction within the Dying Lands is, with happy townspeople. He also notices a flaming meteorite hurtling toward the house he has providentially left moments before. Continue reading →