Opening Plenary: Dr. Edward MacDonald

“Paradise Lost? The Quaker Settlement of New London on 18th-Century Prince Edward Island”

In 1773, Quaker merchant Robert Clark of London founded a Quaker enclave in the largely wilderness colony of St. John’s Island (later Prince Edward Island). Among other, more commercial intentions, his dream was to make New London “a place for the recovering of sinners.” As with most utopian experiments, things didn’t turn out quite the way he had planned. 

Dr. Edward MacDonald is Professor Emeritus at the University of Prince Edward Island. He began his career at the PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation, where he served as Curator of History and long-time editor of its popular history journal, The Island Magazine. In 2000, he joined the Department of History at UPEI and taught there until his retirement in July 2024. Dr. MacDonald has authored, co-authored, edited or compiled eleven books, two exhibit catalogues, and over fifty articles exploring various aspects of the social, political and environmental history of his native province. Among his books are A History of St. Dunstan’s University (1989); If You’re Stronghearted: Prince Edward Island in the Twentieth Century (2000); and, with Alan MacEachern, The Summer Trade: A History of Tourism on Prince Edward Island. In recognition of his service to teaching and Island heritage, He was named to the Order of Canada in 2023 and in October 2024 was invested into the Order of Prince Edward Island.

Plenary Panel: Global Bunyan and Visual Art

This panel, organized by Katie Calloway and Angelica Duran, features four chapters from the 16-chapter forthcoming volume, Global Bunyan and Visual Art (Lexicon / Bloomsbury 2025).

Panel Chair: Angelica Duran

• Nathalie Collé, “Navigating the Visual Afterlives of Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress and Other Works”
• Andy Draycott, “The ABC of The Pilgrim’s Progress Cover Art”
• Katie Calloway, “Bunyan in the Bible Belt”
• Vera J. Camden, “The Private, Puritan Pedagogy of Thomas Hennell”

Closing Plenary: Dr. Angelica Duran

“Teaching Individually and Globally in and with Bunyan.”

This tripartite keynote focuses, first, on key representations of teaching and learning in John Bunyan’s works, then on the integration of Bunyan’s works in educational institutions not specifically designated as Christian schools, and finally the methods and opportunities for teaching and promoting the teaching of Bunyan’s works as we near the 350-year anniversary of his highest circulating work, Part 1 of The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678). The first section indicates some of the correspondences and contradictions between current pedagogical theories—about, for example, active engagement, memorization, and serendipity—and the pedagogical practices Bunyan advocates in his works, including the scene of catechism of Christiana’s sons in Part 2 of The Pilgrim’s Progress (1684). The second section summarizes key case studies of the claims of innovation and popular relevance in justifications for including Bunyan’s works in mainstream, or primarily secular, educational sites, which echo some of Bunyan’s non-conformist rhetoric, as in his (once) oft-quoted statement from The Doctrine of the Law and Grace Unfolded (1659), “I never went to School to Aristotle or Plato.” The conclusion then summarizes opportunities for promoting the teaching and by extension researching of Bunyan’s biography, texts, and afterlives at this opportune time preceding the upcoming anniversary and at this moment of globalization.

Angelica Duran is a Professor of English, Comparative Literature, and Religious Studies. She is the co-editor of Mo Yan in Context: Nobel Laureate and Global Storyteller (Purdue UP, 2014), Milton Studies 58 Special Issue: Milton in the Americas  (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021), Global Bunyan and Visual Art (Rowman & Littlefield, 2025), and two co-edited volumes awarded the Irene Samuel Award from the Milton Society of America: Milton in Translation (Oxford UP, 2017) and Milton Across Borders and Media (Oxford UP, 2023); the editor of A Concise Companion to Milton (Blackwell, 2007, pbk. 2011) and The King James Bible across Borders and Centuries (Duquesne UP, 2014); and author of The Age of Milton and the Scientific Revolution (Duquesne UP, 2007), Milton among Spaniards (U of Delaware P, 2020), and over 70 chapters and articles. She has served on the editorial board of Milton Quarterly (2005–), on the Executive Committee (2012–21) of the Milton Society of America, and as Conference Chair of the Renaissance Society of America (2022–27).