What two books would you take to a deserted island, other than Scripture? I’d take _The Institutes of the Christian Religion_ and _Summa Theologica_.
I was reading F. F. Bruce’s account of his life, In Retrospect. Toward the end of the book, Bruce reflects on the question that I am sure many of us have heard before: which two books, apart from the Bible, would you like to take with you to a desert island? Bruce’s response was insightful and I find myself to be in full agreement with it. He replied that he should like to take Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion and The Collected Hymns of John and Charles Wesley.
To me, the most powerful expression of the Christian faith in post-Reformation history could that movement known as calvinistic methodism. There is nothing more compelling nor more exciting to me than that mingling of the Doctrines of Grace and a heart strangely warmed by God’s grace and longing for growth in holiness.
Jeff Gissing 