30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Good and Honest Biography, June 3, 2008
This review is from: A Passion for God: The Spiritual Journey of A. W. Tozer (Paperback)
A.W. Tozer is a man whose ministry has fascinated me. A man who held closely to biblical, Protestant theology, he was also a man who loved the old Catholic mystics. He had little formal education, yet had the ability to hold the most educated of men and women at rapt attention. He had a single-minded devotion to Christ and the highest respect for the Scriptures. Reading "A Passion for God" has only increased my fascination with him, for here we see more strange and seemingly irreconcilable opposites. Biographer Lyle Dorsett has written a study of the man that deals as honestly with his faults as with the areas that are laudable. And in this case the faults are almost shocking.
Tozer was a man who loved Scripture and loved nothing more than preaching its truths to all who would listen. "A.W. Tozer heralded biblical truth. He loved the Bible and unflinchingly preached what he believed people needed to hear, regardless of what they wanted." Yet he was a man who neglected the mission field in his home. "On and off over the years, Aiden exercised his role as head of the family by encouraging times of family devotions. These never lasted more than a few weeks. As one son explained, the children just did not want it and they were seldom all together for extended periods in any case."
Tozer was a man who dedicated himself to reading, study and prayer and who delighted to be in the presence of God. "There is no way to measure the hours he spent in a typical day or week reading books and wrestling with ideas, but it was substantial. In a similar vein, we know that he increasingly devoted many hours each week praying, meditating on Scripture, and seeking deeper intimacy with the Lord Jesus Christ. During the 1930s Tozer read voraciously, and he also developed a magnificent obsession to be in Christ's presence- just to worship Him and to be with Him." Yet he was a man who was emotionally and spiritually distant from his own wife. "By early 1928 the Tozers had a routine. Aiden found his fulfillment in reading, preparing sermons, preaching, and weaving travel into his demanding and exciting schedule, while Ada learned to cope. She dutifully washed, ironed, cooked, and cared for the little ones, and developed the art of shoving her pain deep down inside. Most of the time she pretended there was no hurt, but when it erupted, she usually blamed herself for not being godly enough to conquer her longing for intimacy from an emotionally aloof husband."
These strange inconsistencies abound. Tozer saw his wife's gifts for hospitality and encouraged her in them; yet he disliked having visitors in his own home. He preached about the necessity of Christian fellowship within the family of Christ; yet he refused to allow his family or his wife's family visit their home. For every laudable area of his life there seemed to exist an equal and opposite error. This study in opposites leaves for a fascinating picture of a man who was used so greatly by God, even while his life had such obvious sin.
We are so accustomed to reading that we often give little attention to the book as a physical object. We interact with its words and phrases but think little of the art involved in actually putting together the book. In this case I thought it was only fair to draw attention to the exceptional design qualities of this title. The cover, the design, the printing, the details are all top-notch. The book is a pleasure to read both for the content and the book itself.
Though certainly not an exhaustive biography (weighing in at just 164 pages before the indexes and appendices) "A Passion for God" is nevertheless a good and valuable one. Those who have enjoyed Tozer's writings will find here the life of a man who can and should be much admired for his deep spirituality and for his overwhelming love for Scripture. They will find here also the sad reality that Tozer, as have so many men before and after him, was willing to sacrifice his family on the altar of ministry. They will wrestle with the great irony that as Tozer grew closer to his Savior he seemed to grow more and more distant from his wife and family. His life stands as both an inspiration and a solemn warning.
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23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Keen insights into the life of an evangelical prophet, June 16, 2008
This review is from: A Passion for God: The Spiritual Journey of A. W. Tozer (Paperback)
As much as I love Tozer the author, I knew little of the man himself. What a blessing that one of my favorite professors when I was student at Wheaton College, Dr. Lyle Dorsett (now at Beeson Divinity School), who also happens to be a renowned expert on C. S. Lewis, has written a biography of this great Christian leader. Until this biography, I was not even aware that two previous works on Tozer's life existed or else I would have devoured them eagerly. Despite knowing nothing of these older bios, it was my great fortune to write Lyle a few years ago and discover that he was in the process of writing A Passion for God: The Spiritual Journey of A. W. Tozer. When the book made it to pre-order on Amazon, I put in my order right away.
A Passion for God is a difficult book, not something I expected on opening it.The primary difficulty? It contains a mere 150 pages of genuine biographical material, leaving a tad unquenched readers' thirst to know more about the man who has been routinely labeled a genuine 20th century prophet. This is not to say that the scholarship here is inadequate, far from it, only that the private Tozer remains an enigma, even to those who knew him.
Dorsett chooses to open his examination of Tozer with the quote, "I've had a lonely life." Indeed, as enormous a spiritual giant Tozer most definitely was, he proved a tough man to know. Even his family felt the distance, especially his wife Ada. Dorsett portrays a man who at once was close to Jesus and yet remote from the others who loved him. Once Tozer left the home of his youth, he eschewed visits, even going so far as to resist visiting his wife's family, despite his mother-in-law being instrumental in introducing Tozer to the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Tozer himself had been converted in 1915 shortly before his 18th birthday, praying to receive the Lord in the attic of his family's Akron home. Having been born into a poor dirt farming household that later moved to the Rubber City, Tozer never forgot his humble roots. He took his disdain for wealth into his marriage to Ada in 1918; after his death it was revealed that he'd been giving half his paycheck back to the churches he had pastored, had refused a pension in the Christian & Missionary Alliance denomination in which he served for decades, and had taken no royalties on the paperback editions of his bestselling books.
Tozer pastored briefly in several poor churches in West Virginia and Ohio before ultimately receiving a call to Southside Alliance Church in Chicago, where he pastored for most of his life. He didn't like to drive, so his family lived close to the church for years, even after the humble wooden church was replaced with a far grander building.
Dorsett ably recalls Tozer's rise within the C&MA as the leaders of that group rapidly understood they had a winner on their hands. Or more like a blaze. For wherever Tozer went, people caught fire. He went on to be a radio preacher on WMBI, the voice of Moody Bible Institute, and eventually garnered a nationwide audience.
In 1960, Tozer, who lamented his skills in pastoral counseling, accepted a call to do nothing but preach at Avenue Road Church in Toronto, serving for three years before succumbing to a heart attack on May 12, 1963.
A Passion for God reveals much more of Tozer's life than I just summarized. A few worthy notes:
* Both Tozer and his wife battled depression. Tozer once told his younger assistant pastor, Raymond McAfee, "If you want to be happy, never ask for the gift of discernment."
* Tozer was a very staunch pro-American patriot and was deeply affected by World War II, maintaining a special admiration and care for soldiers and their families.
* Fearing that he'd succumb to too many human compliments, Tozer would avoid greeting his congregation at the door of the church after services, preferring to visit his church's nursery and talk with young parents.
* Family devotion times at the Tozer household appear to have been just as difficult to schedule and pull off as they are in some of our homes.
* Students, especially at Wheaton College, Moody Bible Institute, and later at his church in Toronto, adored Tozer and his messages. Tozer returned that affection, maintaining a lifelong soft spot for young people.
* Tozer wrote one of his most famous works, The Pursuit of God, in one day while traveling by train to speak at another church.
* Despite not having much education beyond fourteen years, Tozer devoured as many books as he could read, electing to read widely on many topics, particularly writings of pre-Reformation Christians who had been largely ignored by Protestants of his time. Tozer himself never attended college or went to seminary. He routinely cautioned potential pastors about problems with the seminary system.
* Tozer spent hours in prayer and study in his office at the church, often prostrate on the floor. He even wore a specially tailored pair of pants that allowed him to pray longer while kneeling.
* For years, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones tried (unsuccessfully) to get Tozer to come to London to preach at his church.
* Tozer defined workaholism, somehow managing to squeeze life enough for two people into one, yet when not traveling always made it home for the family dinner.
* Tozer later regretted some of the harsh statements he made about movies with Christian themes.
While A Passion for God is a deeply needed book on Tozer, I finished it discontented. When the forwards, appendices, and index are removed, this book is a scant 150 pages. Because Dorsett revisits some issues repeatedly (Ada Tozer's longing for a more intimate relationship with a man much more devoted to God than to his wife, for instance), each revisit adds little to what was already said, diluting the fullness of the material even more.
Sadly, the one truth I hoped would be revealed in this biography never seemed to gel for me: What made Tozer's spiritual journey so profoundly different from all the other evangelical preachers of his time? Nor did I get a good feel for the one defining aspect of Tozer's life that set him well apart from his contemporaries: his love for the mystic writers of Christianity. How and why did he latch onto them when they were largely ignored by others?
Dorsett also mentions that in later years Tozer received some critiques for being overly ecumenical, though he devotes only a page or so to this unusual fact about Tozer. This is definitely an underdeveloped thought considering Tozer railed against the increasing worldliness and liberalism he saw stealing away the heart and soul of Evangelicalism. In what may have been an overdevelopment, Dorsett devotes several pages to racial issues in Chicago toward the latter part of Tozer's ministry there. In truth, Tozer did not have much to say on the issue other than he didn't want to ignore reaching out to the black community of the time, nor did he like some of the contention, both from whites in his church and blacks in the surrounding neighborhood, that was forcing his congregation to relocate.
Leonard Ravenhill discussed his friendship with Tozer in a few teaching tapes I've heard of his, so I was surprised that nothing came of this in the book, especially since I know that Dorsett likes Ravenhill, too. Dorsett also noted that Tozer spoke at several Keswick conferences, though this is not developed at all. I would have liked to have known more about Tozer's affiliations with some of the trends and schools of Christian thought of the time.
Dorsett's writing style is light and easy to read, though a tendency to move forward and backward in time makes the sections on Tozer's childhood and early ministry more difficult to follow than they should be. And while I love Lyle's passion for certain topics within Christianity, he makes his presence as author a bit too obvious on issues near and dear to his heart, something I loved about him when I had him as a professor but others may find intrusive.
A trade paperback, A Passion for God sports an attractive design, with an easy-on-the-eyes typeface and good whitespace. It includes a few pictures, too. For anyone interested in Tozer, it's a worthy read, especially since it shows even a great Christian who knew God intimately can suffer from feet of clay.
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