The Desert Island series is a feature of the main Evangelical Library located in London, England, and appears in their quarterly publication "The Bulletin". It is used here by the St. Thomas Evangelical Library by their permission.
The idea of a desert island is a stimulus to thought and conversation is no new one. The game is played in various guises. In this instance we propose removing a believer to a desert island for an unspecified length of time in order to learn something about the books they would most recommend others to read.
The ground rules are simple. Certain books are already on the island -- The Holy Scriptures (in the version -- or versions -- of your choice); John Bunyan's inimitable Pilgrim's Progress; Matthew Henry's superlative Commentary on the Whole Bible; and, finally, the works of John Calvin. "What need of more books?" you may ask. But these works are so widely esteemed, or at least have been in the past, that we thought it only fair to place them on our island for all.
What remains is for the castaway to take a tour of the Evangelical Library before departure, selecting just five further books for their sojourn...
Check out our "castaways" below to see their choices, and the reasons they provide for making them.
Darby Gray
His choices: Ned B. Stonehouse's biographical memoir of J. Gresham Machen; David B. Calhoun on old Princeton Seminary, Faith and Learning 1812-1868 and The Majestic Testimony 1869-1929; Edwin H. Palmer's doctrinal book The Holy Spirit, His Person and Ministry; John Flavel's Mystery of Providence; and Thomas Brook's Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices.
Colin Leyshon
His choices: William Gurnall's The Christian in Complete Armour; Iain Murray's biography of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones; Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology; Jonathan Edwards' Narrative of Surprising Conversions; and the hymn book Christian Hymns.
Ian Childs
His choices: The New Man, Dr. Lloyd-Jones' sermons on Romans 6; Richard Muller's Christ and the Decree: Christology and Predestination in Reformed Theology from Calvin to Perkins; Jonathan Edwards' Sermons and Discourses 1723-1729; Horton Davies' Worship and Theology in England from 1534 to the present; and Own Jones' Some of the Great Preachers of Wales.
Steve Taylor (Evangelical Library Librarian, London, England)
His choices: Holiness by J. C. Ryle; Courtney Anderson's book on the life and times of Adoniram Judson entitled To the Golden Shore; Stuart Olyott's book of Daniel commentary Dare to Stand Alone; Doctor Martyn Lloyd-Jones' Preaching and Preachers; and the hymn book Grace Hymns.
Richard Brooks (author of the Welwyn Commentaries on the books of Lamentations and Revelation and another EP commentary on Psalm 119)
His choices: A Psalter; the Diary of Kenneth MacRae; the Letters of Samuel Rutherford; the Works of John Flavel; and The Precious Things of God by Octavius Winslow.
Stan Evers (author of the Welwyn Commentaries on the books of Ezra and Nehemiah)
His choices: William Gurnall's The Christian in Complete Armour, an exhaustive exposition of Ephesians 6:10-20; Thomas Manton's Sermons on Isaiah 53; A. W. Pink's Exposition on Hebrews; God Strengthens: Ezekiel Simply Explained by Derek Thomas; and C. H. Spurgeon's two-part autobiography The Early Years and The Final Harvest.
John Kilpatrick
His choices: the Heidelberg Catechism; The Believer's Hymnbook; Princeton Sermons by Charles Hodge; Knowing God by J. I. Packer; and The Gagging of God by Don Carson.
Paul Williams
His choices: The Epistle to the Romans by John Murray; The Confession of Faith by A. A. Hodge; John Owen's The Glory of Christ; Jonah by Hugh Martin; and The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah by Alfred Edersheim.
Peter Eaton
His choices: A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews by Philip Edgecumbe Hughes; John Owen's Communion with God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; the Memoir and Remains of Robert Murray M'Cheyne by Andrew Bonar; Knowing the Times by Dr. Lloyd-Jones; and the hymn book Christian Hymns.
Bob Campen (accountant and treasurer of Grace Publications Trust)
His choices: The Mercies of a Covenant God by John Warburton; H. H. Merle D'Aubigne's The Reformation in England; William Cowper: Poet of Paradise, by George Ella; Iain Murray's biography of D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: The Fight of Faith, 1939-1981; and the Francis Schaeffer Trilogy The God Who is There, Escape from Reason, and He is There, and He is not Silent.
Paul Pease
His choices: Knowing God by Jim Packer; Doctor Lloyd-Jones' Sermons on Romans, 3:20 to 4:25; Hugh Martin's book The Shadow of Calvary; Thomas Brooks, Volume Six; and John Murray's Lectures on Systematic Theology.
Bernard Honeysett
His choices: Morning and Evening: Daily Readings by C. H. Spurgeon; Thomas Watson's Body of Divinity; Life and times of Selina Countess of Huntingdon; John G. Paton, Missionary to the New Hebrides; and the Biography of Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones by Iain Murray.
Philip Eveson (resident tutor at the London Theological Seminary)
His choices: set of Lloyd-Jones on Romans; the works of John Machen; Arnold Dallimore's Life of George Whitefield; The Victorian Church by Owen Chadwick; and The Prophecy of Isaiah by J. A. Motyer.
