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218 of 220 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A life-changing book... but not for the faint of heart, July 4, 2001
This review is from: The Knowledge of the Holy: The Attributes of God: Their Meaning in the Christian Life (Hardcover)
This book, first published in 1961, two years before the author's death, is, in my opinion, the most compact, and power packed vision of God ever to be put to paper in the last 50 years. In the edition I own, Tozer wrote a foreword in which he makes the statement that he wrote the book on his knees in prayer -- He needn't have told us this; the aware reader will sense the fact as soon as he or she reads the first four pages! Although this is a fairly small (and short) book, it is not one that can be read quickly. Each chapter, though less than 10 pages long apiece, must be savored, read slowly and meditated upon. (I should know. I received this book as a Christmas present in 1992 and did not finish it until October 1993.) There are several reasons for this. One is that the book, though written in fairly contemporary English, is written in a highly academic style which most modern readers find difficult to read easily. Modern American readers should be careful on this point. The primary reason for the book's difficultly however, is the sheer Presence of God which the reader encounters on every page. Beware -- to open the covers of this book and search its pages is to tread upon holy ground. It is to walk in the cloud at Sinai with Moses; it is to be standing at Horeb in the mouth of the cave with Elijah as the Lord passes by in a gentle breeze; it is to be with Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration, and it is to feel the earth shake beneath your feet with the guards at the Garden Tomb as the stone is rolled away. Each chapter begins with a prayer for a divinely imparted understanding of that which cannot be conceived by the human mind. It then goes on to discuss a specific attribute of God, attempting to define what each is, what each is not, and the application and impact these have on our daily lives. If you are ready for a devotional experience that will change your life, GET THIS BOOK ... but only if you have some time free to really absorb its awesome truths. This book changed my life and my perspective of God forever, and if you read it slowly and prayerfully, it will change yours as well.
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105 of 106 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A peerless look at the nature of God, September 15, 2003
"The Knowledge of the Holy" is another in a series of astonishingly insightful books by Aiden Wilson Tozer, a contemporary of Christian author C. S. Lewis. As much as the latter has been a favorite of many, the lesser-known Tozer is - for me - an even better expositor of the nature of Christian reality in a dying world. Tozer's remarkable adherence to the Bible, his knowledge of ancient Christian texts (and their authors), and his unique blend of modern evangelical thought and Middle Ages mysticism make him a 20th Century writer without peer. In this work, Tozer concentrates on the attributes of God. So deep are the words here that despite the text's slim 117 pages, it is difficult to digest the sage wisdom. I'm a fast reader, but three hours of reading only got me to page 70. The twenty-three chapters include:
* The Holy Trinity
* The Self-existence of God
* The Divine Omniscience
* The Faithfulness of God
* The Justice of God
* The Sovereignty of God
and so on. Each section opens with a prayer, then moves into keen analysis, pulling in the Bible, old hymns, the writings of the Church fathers, and more. And each chapter is better than the next; I have never read a more quotable work, nor one more filled with sources for meditation. Books like this belong in every serious Christian's library. Tozer's penetrating observations cross all denomination lines and conflict with no Christian doctrinal position I know of. There is no controversy here with the sole exception that 1961's "The Knowledge of the Holy" shows the paucity of genuine Christian thought among today's writers. By looking back, looking at the present, and gazing into the future, Tozer gives us a view of God for the ages. One of the finest Christian books ever written and possibly the best on the nature of God.
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47 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Know WHOM you worship and why you do it, June 26, 2007
This book is like an oasis in the middle of our busy lives. Here we get closer to God because we learn to know Him and thus, to love Him.
This book reminds us that we are not to mistake God for a nice fellow whose job is to help us out. No, this one is an earth-shaking book. It inspires awe in the hearts of the fainted, it awakes you from your self-deluding day-dreams. By describing His attributes (holiness, immutability, divine omniscience, wisdom, omnipotence, transcendence, omnipresence, faithfulness, goodness, justice, mercy, grace, love, sovereignty...) is describes Him, and it produces a humbling experience in us so great that we feel embarrassed to spend so much time thinking of ourselves and so little of Him.
It is a shame that we only remember Him to ask favors or to thank Him mechanically for blessings; if we only took some time to really focus on Him, to contemplate all His attributes, what He is and does in the world and in our lives. If we could only appreciate Him more completely, and not so narrowly... it would be humbling and awe-inspiring.
This book really helps those who have a mechanical faith: a faith that has stopped growing because the focus has narrowed into attitudes like: "business as usual", or "it's all about me", or "what should I do". And we don't think about Him (the Trinity) actually; we think about things, whether spiritual or worldy, but things anyhow. Well, stop or you'll extenuate yourself. Focus of Him: Father, Son & Holy Spirit. How? Here are His attributes explained. It gives a completely new meaning to the words 'praise and worship' because, when you finish the book, you'll really know Who you are praising and worshipping. It won't be mechanical any longer.
Then we can truly say that knowing Him is loving Him. Amen.
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