Deserted Island Top 5: Sinclair Ferguson

Stephen Nichols (SN): Today, we return to our deserted island. Our special guest is Dr. Sinclair Ferguson. Dr. Ferguson, welcome.

Sinclair Ferguson (SF): Thank you very much. Glad to be here.

SN: It's nice to have you. Dr. Ferguson and I met years ago. He was one of my seminary professors at Westminster Theological Seminary. He is a Ligonier teaching fellow, dean of the Doctor of Ministry program at the Ligonier Academy of Biblical and Theological Studies, and author of many books.

This desert island of ours is a very theologically literate island. We already have the works of Augustine, Luther, and Calvin, and we'll even throw in Edwards. So beyond those, what would be the top five books you'd like to have on the island?

SF: I would need to move first into the seventeenth century and take with me John Owen's book Communion with God. To be honest, I would like to slip in, without anyone noticing, his book The Glory of Christ, as well. Second, I would take with me John Murray's commentary on Romans, which I first read when I was a teenager. It did two things to me: it helped me understand Romans, and it brought me to a wonderful sense of the glory of the gospel. Third, I would like to slip in a good copy of The Pilgrim's Progress with both parts. Even if I didn't meet a man Friday on my pilgrimage on the desert island, I could reflect again on what it means to be a Christian. The fourth book I would take is the Westminster Confession of Faith, which is such a beautiful summary of Christian doctrine. I might slip in a little copy of the Heidelberg Catechism as well, but the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms would be a wonderful thing to have with me. And then, if I can take a set with me, I would take Herman Bavinck's Reformed Dogmatics.

SN: We will let you take those sets. We will even let you slip in those books since you were so gracious about it. So, you're going to have quite the reading list with John Owen, with whom you go back a long way. When you first read Owen, what was it that attracted you to him?

SF: Well, I am ashamed to say it was that I could buy him cheaply. But, as soon as I began to read him, I realized there was a theological depth there that I was little accustomed to, coupled with a depth of understanding of the human heart that was quite unusual. And the combination of the two was winning for me. And although, sometimes people say he's hard to read—he probably thought largely in Latin, and his English is not the simplest—there is such grace in it that when I read him I sometimes think, "Why do I bother reading anything else?"

SN: Visitors to our island who have written books are also able to leave one of their books behind for the next traveler. So which of your many books would you like to leave?

SF: That's more difficult than choosing the books that I want to read when I'm on the island. I think I'd have to say A Heart for God. It's the title, of all my books, that I love most just as a title. And also it's a fairly straightforward book. I think it might be a help to someone who found himself there but didn't know Christ. And it might be an encouragement to someone who did know Christ and wondered why he was there on a desert island.

SN: It is indeed a helpful and encouraging book, as so many of your books are. Thank you, Dr. Ferguson. We will leave you on your desert island, but will come back to get you.

SF: Thank you.