A.W. Tozer
1897 to 1963
Aiden Wilson Tozer was an American pastor and writer who had no formal theological training and pastored his first church at twenty-three. He had a rare gift for calling the church back to a real, awed knowledge of God, away from comfortable religion. He wrote his best-known book, The Pursuit of God, on a single overnight train journey, and gave away most of what his books earned. His writing is short, sharp and hard to forget.
Tozer wrote to wake the church up. His complaint, made gently but without softening it, was that we had quietly swapped the living God for a smaller, safer, more manageable version, and then wondered why our faith had gone flat. He wanted people to recover a sense of awe, to know God rather than merely know a few correct things about him.
His writing matches the message. The sentences are short and plain and oddly difficult to forget, the kind you catch yourself turning over hours later. He had no formal theological training and gave away most of what his books earned, which tells you he meant every word. We feature him because a few minutes of Tozer still does what he set out to do. It lifts your eyes.
Quotes with a reflection
Selected sayings
A few more lines from A.W. Tozer, gathered as encouragement, each with a note on where it comes from or what it means.
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“Faith is the gaze of a soul upon a saving God.”
From The Pursuit of God, on faith as simply a look in the right direction.
A.W. Tozer