Deserted Island Top 5: Carl Trueman

Stephen J. Nichols (SN): Today we have another installment in our Deserted Island series. We have with us Dr. Carl R. Trueman. Dr. Trueman is the Paul Woolley Professor of Church History at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, cohost of the Mortification of Spin podcast, and a prolific author. And he is a good friend of mine. Dr. Trueman, welcome.

Carl R. Trueman (CT): It's great to be here, Steve.

SN: Thanks for being with us. Here are the rules on our island. We already have the works of Augustine, we have the works of Luther, we have the works of Calvin, and we have the works of Edwards. So this is a different island, a rather theologically engaged island. And you're here now, and you get to pick your top five books for your time on your deserted island.

CT: Interesting. There's no chance that I could swap Edwards for the complete works of Derek Thomas, I suppose?

SN: We would gladly add the works of the esteemed Derek Thomas.

CT: Well, it seemed a sufficiently depressing collection. It needed Derek, I think, in there.

Five books I would have. Clearly, I'd have quite enough theology to be getting on with, with those collections, so I think I'd probably go with non-theological books. If I wasn't depressed enough already, being completely isolated on my own, probably Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy would be one of my choices; I love that book. Particularly that it all goes horribly wrong at the end and everybody's devastated. Can't beat that kind of an ending to a book. And it's a brilliant analysis of the British class system. So Jude the Obscure would be there.

Second: The Gatekeeper, which is Terry Eagleton's autobiography. Simply the funniest book ever written I think. My wife was so glad when I finished it, because I would lie awake at night laughing at the stuff that I read in the book. It doesn't sound too promising—a Marxist literary critic writes his autobiography. It sounds woefully dry. But actually it's a very, very amusing piece of work.

Third: T.E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Lawrence is a huge hero of mine. The classic intellectual man of action. Of course, Lawrence lost the first draft of that book. He left it, I think, at the waiting room at Reading Station and never recovered it, so had to write the whole thing out again. But it is one of the towering literary achievements, I think, of the twentieth century. And probably the greatest literary achievement of the First World War.

Fourth: A collection of Joseph Epstein's essays. I love Joseph Epstein. He's worth reading simply to marvel at how he writes. So I'd want a volume of Epstein.

SN: So we're up to four now, so we have your last choice; better make it a good one.

CT: Probably The Complete Molesworth by Willans and Searle. Got to get a cartoon book in there somewhere. My friend Todd Pruitt loves books with pictures. In case he ever visited me I'd have a book that he'd be able to read.

SN: Well, we've got theology, we've got some good literature, we've got some comedy, some biography. It all sounds like you've got some great reading set out for you. When visitors come to the island, especially if they're authors, we ask that they leave a book of their own behind for the next guest. You've written a number of wonderful books, so is there one that you could select?

CT: I'm tempted to say The Creedal Imperative.

SN: I was hoping you would go with that.

CT: Of course, if you're all by yourself, it's a little bit pointless. A creedal community of one; you're not really defining yourself against anyone are you? But probably The Creedal Imperative would be the one that I would see as, you know, hopeful as having the most use for the church.

SN: Well, thank you for visiting us, and I wish you well on your deserted island. Thank you, Dr. Trueman.

CT: Thanks for visiting me, Steve.