The International John Bunyan Society
The International John Bunyan Society exists to promote and support scholarship about Bunyan, his contemporaries, and his influence. Our conferences convene every three years. We invite all scholars, teachers, and members of the general public interested in Bunyan and in early modern literature and culture generally to join.
Window commemorating the tercentenary of the publication of The Pilgrim's Progress. The original window is found in the Bunyan Meeting Free Church in Bedford. Photographic image of the original reproduced by permission of Fidelity Colour Printers, Essex, U.K. SS15 6SD
Sixth Triennial Conference: Call for Papers
Bunyan and the Dissenting Tradition
July 26-28 2010, Keele University, U.K.
under the direction of
Dr. Roger Pooley, President of the IJBS
The conference registration and accommodation
booking form is available at this site: www.keele-conferencemanagement.com/johnbunyan2010
You are invited to join the members of the Society for our triennial meeting. Keele is a campus university near the city of Stoke-on-Trent, easily reached by rail and motorway links. Plenary speakers who have already agreed to come are Professor Lori Branch (University of Iowa), author of Rituals of Spontaneity: Sentiment and Secularism from Free Prayer to Wordsworth; Professor John Coffey (University of Leicester), biographer of Samuel Rutherford and John Goodwin and historian of the mid-seventeenth century; and Professor Isabel Rivers (Queen Mary University of London), co-director of Dr Williams’s Centre for Dissenting Studies, and author of the two-volume Reason, Grace and Sentiment.
Proposals for twenty minute papers will be welcomed on all aspects of John Bunyan’s life, writing and influence, as well as work on his contemporaries, his influence and his afterlife, particularly in the dissenting tradition. We hope to offer a reduced rate for postgraduates and post-docs not in full-time employment.
As happened at the last conference, there will also be a round table on teaching Bunyan. Indications of willingness to contribute to that session are sought from delegates who may or may not be offering research papers as well. The business meeting of the Society, to include the election of officers for the following three years, will take place at the conference. I hope to arrange a trip to the surrounding area. Stoke is known as the ‘Potteries’ - though many of the factories have closed down now - the setting for many of Arnold Bennett’s novels, and it has a rich nonconformist tradition, including the birthplace of Primitive Methodism.
Please address all enquiries to Dr Roger Pooley,
School of Humanities, Keele University, Keele, Staffs ST5 5BG, email r.f.pooley@keele.ac.uk
I look forward to welcoming you to Keele next year.
PAST CONFERENCES:
DARTMOUTH 2007: The Fifth Triennial Conference convened August 15-19 at Dartmouth College, Hanover New Hampshire, under the direction of Tom Luxon. Plenary speakers were Paul Stevens (Toronto), Nigel Smith (Princeton), Julie Crawford (Columbia), Elizabeth Sauer (Brock), and Bob Owens (Open University).
BEDFORD 2004: The Fourth Triennial Conference convened September 1-5, 2004 at De Montfort University in Bedford, England under the direction of Bob Owens of the Open University in partnership with Adrian Randall of De Monfort University. Plenary speakers were Isabel Hofmeyr, Vincent Newey, Tom Paulin, Vera Camden, and Gary Day. The conference program included opportunities to visit historic sites connected to Bunyan, inlcuding the Bunyan Meeting Free Church, Elstow Abbey, and the village of Stevenage. Here is a review of the conference by Michael Davies.
KENT STATE 2001: The Third Triennial Conference convened October 10-14, 2001 at Kent State University, Ohio, under the direction of Vera Camden. Plenary speakers were Sharon Achinstein, Margaret Ezell, Thomas Luxon, David Norbrook, Peter Rudnytsky and Nigel Smith. Here is a review of the 2001 conference published in Bunyan Studies 10 (2001-02).
STIRLING 1998: The Second Triennial Conference took place 31 August- 4 September, 1998 at the University of Stirling, Scotland under the direction of Neil Keeble. Plenary Speakers were Thomas Corns, Nigel Smith, William Lamont and Elaine Hobby. Here is a list of delegates.
ALBERTA 1995: The First Triennial Conference of the International John Bunyan Society convened in Banff, Alberta under the direction of organizers from the University of Alberta. Plenary speakers were John Knott, Richard Greaves and Neil Keeble.
THE RICHARD L. GREAVES AWARD
The Richard L. Greaves Award is presented triennially by the Society to an outstanding book on the history, literature, thought, practices, and legacy of English Protestantism to 1700. Eligible books must be published in the three-year period leading up to the Society's triennial conference. The award is not limited to studies of Bunyan, and can be conferred on authors who are not members of the IJBS.
2010
The selection committee (Galen Johnston, Ann Dunan-Page and Isabel Hofmeyr) has selected David Appleby of the University of Nottingham as the 2010 recipient for his book Black Bartholomew's Day: Preaching, Polemic and Restoration Nonconformity, published by Manchester University Press. Committee members agreed that "the book's contribution to dissenting studies was exceptional."
2007
The winner of the first Richard L. Greaves Award for an outstanding book published in the period 2004-07 is The Portable Bunyan: A Transnational History of The Pilgrim's Progress (Princeton University Press). Honorable mention goes to Beth Lynch, John Bunyan and the Language of Conviction (D.S. Brewer). Selection Committee: Sharon Achinstein, Sylvia Brown, Nigel Smith
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In Memoriam: Geoffrey Nuttall
Professor Nuttall passed away July 24, 2007 at the age of 95.
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The Society's Officers
Past Presidents
You can download our Membership Form
Note: Dues should be forwarded in the form of an international money order (in pounds sterling) payable to the International John Bunyan Society. In the UK, please send membership dues to: Roger Pooley, Director of Programmes in English, School of Humanities, Keele University, Staffordshire, ST5 5BG, England. Canadian and American members can forward dues (in Canadian or U.S. dollars) by check or money order to: Arlette Zinck, Treasurer, The King's University College, Edmonton, Canada T6B 2H3
Membership rates are:
All members will receive The Recorder, the newsletter of the International John Bunyan Society.
For further information contact David Gay, Department of English, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, T6G 2E5. David.Gay@ualberta.ca
The Recorder
The Recorder is the newsletter of the International John Bunyan Society. It appears once a year in the Spring, and includes short articles, book reviews, scholarly notes, news of members, conference announcements, and other items of interest.
For submissions and inquiries contact Christopher Garrett: CGarrett@okcu.edu
Bunyan Studies
Bunyan Studies is a scholarly journal that focuses on John Bunyan and his times. It appears once a year, and includes major articles on Bunyan and his period, book reviews, news, and reports.
For information on submissions contact: W.R. Owens, Editor, The Open University,
Department of Literature, 1-11 Hawley Crescent, Camden Town, London NW1 8NP.
W.R.Owens@open.ac.uk
For information on subscriptions and submissions, contact: Stuart Sim, Editor, English and Creative Writing, School of Arts and Social Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK NE1 8ST
Reviews and books for review should be sent to: Dr. David Walker, Head, English and Creative Writing, School of Arts and Social Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK NE1 8ST
Sponsoring Institutions
Sites of Related Interest
Early Modern Literary Studies examines English literature, literary culture, and language during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
The Milton Reading Room is a virtual library of Milton's texts developed by Tom Luxon and his students at Dartmouth College.
The Milton-L Home Page is devoted to the life, literature, and times of John Milton.
The Voice of the Shuttle offers links to a wide range of sites in Renaissance and Seventeenth-Century Literature and other periods.
Dr Williams’s Centre for Dissenting Studies is a collaboration between Queen Mary, University of London and Dr. Williams's Library.
Dr. Williams's Library is a major research library in the area of English Protestant nonconformity.
The Bunyan Museum is situated at the Bunyan Meeting Free Church in Mill Street, Bedford, England. The Museum opened in 1998 and has had thousands of visitors since then.
In his early years, Bunyan attended church at Elstow Abbey (founded 1078), located in his home village of Elstow.
Takkorngartaub Arvertarninga: Pilgrim’s Progress translated into Inuktitut, a web-based project created by Sylvia Brown of the University of Alberta.
". . . fear not the Lions, for they are Chained; and are placed there for trial of faith . . . "
Illustration to The Pilgrim's Progress by William Blake (1757-1827)