The mind of the author...

From Nine Marks Ministries, a very insightful interview between host Mark Dever and R. C. Sproul (back in 2005). Their topic was "Theology & Books" with R.C. sharing his thoughts regarding many of his books. Here are some of the topics and their corresponding time codes:

03:40 -- R.C. Sproul the Writer
11:22 -- Dever's suggestions of where to get started with R.C.'s books
16:42 -- How would you define total depravity?
17:47 -- Why is it important for pastors to get a hold of [total depravity] directly today?
19:05 -- One of the things I appreciate about your writings is you take depravity seriously. So many popular Christian authors out there are telling people that they should have better self-esteem, and that they should feel good. They're kind of therapeutic. You don't do that at all. You wrote one back in the eighties called The Hunger for Significance. Do you want to talk about that book for just a moment?
25:59 -- The Holiness of God. You were writing this because you thought people were just misunderstanding God. They had too high a view of man and too low a view of God.
28:30 -- You wrote [a book] on the heart of Reformed theology called Grace Unknown. (Now titled What is Reformed Theology?)
29:30 -- Willing to Believe, the controversy over free will.
30:50 -- The Dark Side of Islam
31:55 -- What's the basic idea behind unconditional election?
32:55 -- You talk about unconditional election in Chosen by God, which you think might be your most important book. Why did you write this back in 1986?
34:17 -- Much more recently you wrote Getting the Gospel Right: The Tie that Binds Evangelicals Together. This was essentially because of some of the confusion in the evangelical community because of the document Evangelicals & Catholics Together.
35:55 -- While we're thinking about the Gospel, tell us about the atonement. What is the atonement?
38:20 -- The Glory of Christ

Books on Apologetics (43:33)
43:47 -- If There's a God, Why are There Atheists?
44:23 -- Reason to Believe
44:59 -- Explaining Inerrancy and Knowing Scripture
45:15 -- Ethics and the Christian (currently out-of-print)
45:55 -- Classical Apologetics
46:33 -- Lifeviews
46:50 -- The Mystery of the Holy Spirit
47:20 -- Not a Chance
48:28 -- Choosing My Religion
48:47 -- The Consequences of Ideas
49:15 -- Defending Your Faith
49:47 -- Last doctrine to ask you about: perseverance of the saints. I'm a Southern Baptist, and that doctrine is abused when some friends talk about "once saved, always saved," and I'm scared that they've never been saved in the first place. But (perseverance) is a precious doctrine. You want to spell it out for us?

Books on the Christian life (51:50)
52:06 -- Knowing Scripture
52:27 -- God's Will and the Christian
52:56 -- Pleasing God (currently out-of-print)
53:32 -- Surprised by Suffering (currently out-of-print)
54:00 -- The Invisible Hand
54:28 -- The Last Days According to Jesus
56:13 -- Five Things Every Christian Needs to Grow (currently out-of-print)
56:30 -- When Worlds Collide

57:13 -- What things do you most appreciate about the current scene in American evangelicalism?
57:34 -- What things are you most concerned about?

You can hear the interview here.