What Are Some Good Systematic Theology Books to Help Believers Grow in Their Faith?

NATHAN W. BINGHAM: This week we are joined by the Vice Chairman of Ligonier Ministries, Dr. Sinclair Ferguson. He’s also a Ligonier Ministries teaching fellow. Dr. Ferguson, what systematic theologies would you recommend to a Christian to help them grow in their faith?

SINCLAIR B. FERGUSON: Well, asking questions about books today is asking to select out of probably thousands and thousands of good books that are available to us. But when people ask particularly about theology books and systematic theology books, I think we can start from what I would recommend to somebody who is beginning, right through to what I might recommend to somebody who had already studied a lot of Christian doctrine and theology.

So, the book I recommend to people who are beginning is Dr. Sproul’s book Everyone’s a Theologian, for a couple of reasons. One is because the title takes people by surprise, and by the title—he’s echoing Martin Luther actually in the title—but by the title, he is helping people to realize that it’s not just some people who are to think theologically but that we all think theologically. It’s just that we either think well theologically or bad theologically. And it’s written for ordinary Christians. It’s superbly well-written. R.C. Sproul was a fantastically clear communicator, and for all his intellectual ability, he gave his life to communicating Christian theology to ordinary Christians who had never been to seminary. So that, I think, is where I would begin.

Another book I might recommend, which is a much older book, but a very attractive book, is a book by a man called Thomas Watson, who was a minister in London in the seventeenth century. And I think he must’ve been a fantastic minister to have. He had a tremendous ability to express Christian theology in ways that are digestible, and also with a great warmth, and with some wonderful illustrations and even some great Latin phrases that even if you don’t know any Latin, you know, are just kind of attractive to read and to think about, and I think they’re translated in the modern version. So, Everyone’s a Theologian and Body of Divinity.

Then the next stage, there is a book that I think is really a very beautiful exposition of Christian theology written by the Dutch theologian, Herman Bavinck. It was translated into English, I think in the 1950s, and published then as Our Reasonable Faith, and it’s been more recently republished in a much more attractive edition with the original title of Magnalia Dei: The Great Works of God. And Bavinck was a theologian of the first rank, a wonderful theologian, and this is a quite separate book that he wrote for Christians in general. It’s, I think, probably more challenging than either Dr. Sproul or Thomas Watson, but it’s a very engaging book. He just writes with a lovely warmth, and I think that’s a book that teaches you that high-level theological thinking can be very beautiful to read.

Then beyond that, I think you come to the stage where you’re starting reading systematic theology textbooks. And a book I used a lot when I was a teenager and into my twenties—now probably about eighty years old, I think—is a book called Systematic Theology, written by Louis Berkhof. It is not the most readable book in the world, but it’s absolutely jam-packed with information, and I think that’s very helpful.

And then to crown it all is a four-volume systematic theology by the same man, Herman Bavinck, which has been translated into English only, I think, in the last thirty years. And it is really just an outstanding exposition of theology with great warmth.

And then if you’re still game for more, there are modern systematic theologies by people that listeners to Ligonier broadcasts are probably familiar with, perhaps especially Joel Beeke’s multi-volume work on systematic theology, Michael Horton’s work on systematic theology, Bob Letham’s work on systematic theology. And these are larger, and they’re all written by native English speakers. They’re written by people who are living in the modern world, and therefore, in a way, are more up to date. So, those books, I think, would keep people going on a summer vacation and into the long winter nights, and I think they’re all very helpful indeed.