Deserted Island Top 5: Derek Thomas

Stephen J. Nichols (SN): It's time for another installment of our deserted island series, and on this episode we are joined by Dr. Derek W.H. Thomas. Dr. Thomas is the senior minister at First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, S.C., and the Robert Strong Professor of Systematic and Pastoral Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary in Atlanta. He is also an adjunct professor in the Doctor of Ministry program at the Ligonier Academy of Biblical and Theological Studies. He is an author, an avid fan of the opera, and a very good friend. Dr. Thomas, welcome to 5 Minutes in Church History.

Derek W.H. Thomas (DT): Thank you, Steve. I'm not sure I want to be on this island—but thank you so much.

SN: Here I said you're a good friend, and now I'm going to leave you on a deserted island. Well, this isn't just any island; this is a rather theologically astute island. We have a Bible, we have the works of Augustine, we have Luther, Calvin, and Edwards, and now, what other five books would you like to take along with you?

DT: Well, being abandoned on an island, and I'm not a great DIY guy, and I definitely would miss my music, so I really do want a CD player and some CDs. But if you want to limit me to books, the first one would have to be Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. I first read it when I was 16. I went to a local bookstore bought a paperback version of it and began reading it and I just never put it down. And read it over a couple of days from beginning to end. And I've read it every year since then.

SN: That's impressive.

DT: It would be perfect for a desert island.

SN: So we have Lord of the Rings. How about number two?

DT: It would have to be Douglas Adams Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe. And again, it was something I read in high school. It was fun; it was bizarre. It's not for everybody. It's a certain kind of humor that doesn't appeal to everyone. It doesn't appeal to my wife, for example. But my son and I just thought it was the funniest thing we had ever read.

SN: And it has a great last line.

DT: "So long, and thanks for all the fish."

SN: How about number three?

DT: John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. I can't imagine life without it. Written in prison, its first part was published in 1678 and its second part in 1684. The two parts tell the story of Christian and Christiana and the four boys, and the two complement each other. You'll not get through the pearly gates if you don't have with you a signed and sealed record that you have read and assimilated Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress.

SN: And number four?

DT: Number four is . . . I need something about music, so you've already given me Calvin's Institutes, I guess, so I need something about music. And classical music has been crucial to me all of my life. I've kind of been obsessional about it. And I've just purchased and have been trying to read John Eliot Gardiner's biography Bach: Music in the Castle of Heaven. And it's 672 pages and it really isn't easy reading. It wasn't all I was hoping it was going to be. So I think I'm going to have to be on a desert island to read this book. Because I do think it is important.

SN: And that leaves us one last book.

DT: George Herbert, I think. The Complete English Poems. And not least because Herbert was Welsh—at least somewhere in his genes there is Welshness. And Herbert was C.S. Lewis' favorite poet.

SN: I think poetry could come in handy, and Herbert's a great choice.

DT: And if you were on an island reading poetry out loud, it wouldn't confront your manhood in quite the same way as it might do in real life.

SN: In a crowded city for instance. Well Dr. Thomas, thank you. I wish you well on your deserted island. We will have to check back in and see how you're doing.

DT: Thank you.

SN: You're very welcome.