In Sunday School two weeks ago I (DF) wrapped up the Hermeneutics series by mentioning my Desert Island list. What in the world is my desert island list? If I was stranded on a desert island and could only have five books with me for the rest of my life these are the five books I would chose. Everyone needs a desert island list. But If you don’t aniticipate being stranded on a desert Island and you are serious about understanding your Bible better these are the first five books you should purchase.
1. “ESV Study Bible” This is the Gold standard for Study Bibles has no peers. If your not convinced I dare you to read it.
2. “The New Bible Dictionary” This is a great tool for looking up the meaning of Biblical words and phrases.
3. “The Evangelical Dictionary of Theology” Not only does this resource contain key words from the Bible it also contains key theological, historical, and biographical entries. Now admit it, this books sounds like fun. Besides my Study Bible I pull this off the shelf most frequently.
4. “The New Bible Commentary” Commentaries on individual books are almost always better. But since your stuck on a desert island and you don’t have room for 66 commentaries this is the the best one volume commentary on the whole Bible. Hats off to IVP who chose an excellent set of editors for this volume. Make sure you purchase the most recent revision.
5. “Systematic Theology” by Wayne Grudem. This is currently the best selling Systematic Theology on the market. This makes sense since it is highly readable, devotional (yes I said devotional), and theologically sound.
