The Pursuit of God

What It's About

Written in a single weekend and published in 1948, The Pursuit of God is a short but intense devotional work arguing that orthodox Christian belief, while necessary, is not enough. Tozer's central concern is the gap between knowing about God and actually knowing God — between theological correctness and living, felt communion with the divine. Drawing on Scripture and the Christian mystical tradition, he urges readers to press past religious routine and intellectual assent into an active, hungry seeking of God's presence.

Key Concepts

Tozer borrows freely from medieval mystics — particularly The Cloud of Unknowing and the writings of Brother Lawrence — while remaining firmly within evangelical Protestantism. He develops the idea of the "veil" that separates believers from full awareness of God's presence, identifying self-will, preoccupation with possessions, and spiritual complacency as the chief obstacles. The book's recurring theme is restlessness: a holy dissatisfaction with surface-level religion that drives the soul toward deeper union with God. Some readers in more cerebral Reformed traditions have found Tozer's experiential emphasis too subjective, but the book has remained widely read across denominational lines for its directness and spiritual urgency.

About the Author

Aiden Wilson Tozer (1897–1963) was an American pastor and preacher in the Christian and Missionary Alliance denomination. Self-educated in theology, he served congregations in the United States and Canada and became one of the most influential evangelical voices of the mid-twentieth century, known for his uncompromising emphasis on holiness and the interior life.