Deserted Island: A Stranded Podcast Host and His Books

The tides have turned, and our host is being sent to a deserted island. Today, Lee Webb swaps places with Stephen Nichols in order to ask him this question: Which five books would you bring to a deserted island?

Lee Webb: Welcome back to another episode of 5 Minutes in Church History. My name is not Steve Nichols, my name is Lee Webb. And yes, I’m the retired host of Renewing Your Mind. And, if you’ve joined us in previous episodes, you know that Dr. Nichols, after I retired, decided to send me off to a deserted island. And now I’ve returned to this deserted island, I brought the books that I chose to take with me to the deserted island. Now I’ve returned, and don’t you think that turnabout is fair play? I think so. So, here I am back in the studio, Dr. Nichols, welcome to your podcast, 5 Minutes in Church History, and the Deserted Island Edition.

Dr. Stephen Nichols: Thanks for having me, Lee. I am very much enjoying this position as guest and not host.

Lee Webb: Well, turnabout is fair play.

Dr. Stephen Nichols: It is indeed.

Lee Webb: And you’ve been warned that you were going to be sent off to this deserted island, and-

Dr. Stephen Nichols: Warned, Lee? I have been waiting for this my whole life. I can’t wait to get to this deserted island.

Lee Webb: And so, you’ve been able now to think about this and select the books that you would like to take with you. Let’s start with the first book.

Dr. Stephen Nichols: So, the first book I’m going to take is a commentary on the book. it’s a Commentary on Romans. It is by John Murray, the longtime Scottish professor at my alma mater, Westminster Theological Seminary. This way, I get to just spend time in Romans, and spend time with Murray, who’s brilliant. He’s brilliant at the textual exegesis and exposition at the historical, cultural stuff, and especially at the theology of the book of Romans. So, I’ve got a brand-new addition here, it’s a nice hardback, and I see myself already enjoying this book.

Lee Webb: And Romans 8:28 will be a great comfort to you-

Dr. Stephen Nichols: That’s right.

Lee Webb: ... while you’re on that deserted island.

Dr. Stephen Nichols: All things do work together for good. Indeed.

Lee Webb: How about the second book?

Dr. Stephen Nichols: So, the second book is going to take me back to, as I was leaving college and thinking about what I wanted to do with the next phases, I was actually interested, Lee, in Old Testament studies at one time. And I saw myself as a bit of an archeologist, Old Testament, Hebrew scholar. Well, I read this book, No Place for Truth: Or, Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology, by David Wells, and I realized that I just love theology, historical theology, and it was very pivotal for me as I was entering Westminster Seminary, and desired to pursue more of the theological, historical theological route.

Lee Webb: That book has stood the test of time, hasn’t it?

Dr. Stephen Nichols: It has. I think it’s now 26, 27, going on 28 years old. When it turned 25, we had David Wells come down here and we did a conference based on this book. And that was, personally, that was wonderful for me, but I also think it was really helpful for folks. But he sent out the signal for the American Church to wake up and reclaim its theological identity.

Lee Webb: Much like Machen did 100 years ago.

Dr. Stephen Nichols: It very much is sort of that generation’s Christianity and liberalism. It’s a good observation.

Lee Webb: All right, we move on to the third book.

Dr. Stephen Nichols: Okay, so the third book is a fun one, On the Happy Life. Because don’t you want a happy life, and you’re on your deserted island? It’s by Augustine. And it’s part of what’s called the Cassiciacum Dialogues. And this is a little town, you can picture it, it’s a resort town. It’s literally at the foothills of the Alps. Augustine had just been converted in Milan, and he takes a few months and he goes to this villa, which he was sent there as a gift of a very wealthy friend in Milan. And essentially, this is Paul’s time on the backside of the desert, where he’s needing to rethink everything and relearn everything. This is Augustine’s desert moment, and out of it comes his first Christian writings. And, the second writing was a book that he wrote called, On the Happy Life.

It’s a short little text, but it’s a fun text of Augustine and all the big themes that you know he is going to write in City of God and Confessions, you see the germ of those themes in this little book. And this cover has a boat so I can dream about a boat coming to rescue me from my island.

Lee Webb: There you go. Well, those are three of your books. We have two more to go, Dr. Nichols, and I hope you will join us next time as we discover what those two books are. For now, that's this edition of 5 Minutes in Church History. I'm Lee Webb, and it's my pleasure to fill in for Dr. Nichols for this particular episode. I hope you'll join us next time.