A.W. Tozer. God’s Pursuit of Man. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2015. See here to purchase the book.
A.W. Tozer was a pastor and Christian author who lived from 1897 to
1963. The page of the book that has the copyright information states: “God’s Pursuit of Man was originally published under the titles The Divine Conquest and The Pursuit of Man and is a sequel to The Pursuit of God.”
Overall, this book is about having a tangible, vibrant experience of
the divine, in which the Holy Spirit actually dwells inside of a
Christian. Tozer advocates that Christians read the Bible, but he is
against them substituting that for an experience of the living God,
calling that seeking the living among the dead (a la Luke 24:5).
According to Tozer, a spiritual experience is what can nourish a
Christian.
In what sense is the book about God’s pursuit of human beings? Tozer
makes Calvinist-like statements about the sovereignty of God in calling
certain people to be Christians, as if who becomes a Christian is God’s
choice, and God is the one who enables sinful human beings to receive
God. (For a thoughtful post about whether or not Tozer was a Calvinist,
see this post by John H. Armstrong: http://johnharmstrong.typepad.com/john_h_armstrong_/2008/06/was-a-w-tozer-a.html)
At the same time, Tozer also includes statements that are supportive of
human free will, and he discusses what people can do to be filled with
the Holy Spirit, or to prepare themselves for such an experience.
Tozer appeals to the story of Jacob wrestling with God (Genesis 32) and
the story of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon becoming a beast (Daniel 4)
as examples of God conquering human beings and yielding them to God; in
those cases, God works through circumstances. Tozer does not dismiss
human free will, but he also wants Christians to acknowledge God’s
sovereignty and proactive role in their call, including their ability to
believe.
Tozer also presents the Christian’s possession of the Holy Spirit as a
rough ride. According to Tozer, the Spirit inside of a person will
conquer that person’s sinfulness and self-will. Tozer says this within
the context of asking people if they are sure that they want to be
filled with the Holy Spirit. There are tensions within Tozer’s book,
and he does not successfully resolve them. On the one hand, Tozer
presents God as one who proactively conquers a person. On the other
hand, Tozer presents being filled with the Holy Spirit as the result of
human choice: humans have to do things (i.e., have a cheerful faith,
forsake things contrary to God’s character, read the Bible) if the Holy
Spirit is to dwell inside of them. Is the Holy Spirit a conqueror, or a
gentleman? Does the Spirit meet people in their halting attempts to
know God, or give up on those who fail to meet a certain spiritual
standard? Tozer is all over the place on this, but he may hold these
tensions together in some manner, in his own mind. The Puritans, too,
stressed God’s sovereignty and role in converting people, while
encouraging people to seek God continually in hope of a saving
experience.
Tozer thoughtfully engages a variety of questions and topics. A few
times in the book, he discusses the question of what it looks like for
the Holy Spirit to enter and live inside of a person. Does the Holy
Spirit possess the person and void that person’s humanity and free
will? Tozer answers in the negative. For Tozer, the Spirit burns
wickedness, while preserving a person’s humanity; plus, the Spirit works
with the Christian’s volition. Tozer does not clearly describe what it
looks like for the Holy Spirit to dwell inside of a person, but he does
make the effort.
Tozer talks about the Trinity: how the Holy Spirit is equally God and
interacts with the Father and the Son. Tozer discusses how the Spirit
has all of the divine attributes, works with the other members of the
Trinity in union, and yet performs specific tasks. Tozer has this
discussion because he believes that the Holy Spirit has been a neglected
member of the Trinity within the Christendom of his day. Tozer’s
insights about the Trinity, and also God’s attributes, are arguably
relevant to contemporary debates about the Trinity within the
theological-blogosphere (as of July 2016), over the question of whether
the Son has eternally been obedient to the Father.
Tozer’s discussion on how the world refuses to receive the Holy
Spirit was helpful, in terms of explaining what Jesus may have meant
when he said in John 15:19 that the world loves its own. Tozer did well
to highlight the importance of character in this discussion: meekness
and humility, as opposed to the world’s values of pride, power, and
bribery. While there is no honor among thieves, the world often does
admire those who thrive according to the world’s values, or lack
thereof.
Tozer was slightly unclear on the question of whether a person can be
saved without having experienced the sort of tangible spiritual renewal
that he discusses. On the one hand, he does seem to present that
tangible spiritual renewal as an aspect of salvation, and being filled
with the Holy Spirit as the normal for truly regenerate people. On the
other hand, he is critical of Christians who believe that the measure of
the Holy Spirit that they received upon regeneration is all that there
is for them. Tozer, in that case, may acknowledge that these people are
true Christians, while thinking that they are selling themselves short.
The book did make me feel spiritually insecure, since I tend to rely
on a book (the Bible) for my knowledge of God, plus I am not dogmatic
about what does or does not constitute God’s activity in my life. God
is aloof in my Christian experience, and also in the experience of many
other Christians, I have gathered. Some people do not condemn those in
that situation, saying that God works in different ways, for different
people. Others, by contrast, are critical of people in that situation,
blaming them for God’s aloofness. Tozer seems to me to belong more in
the latter category, even though, to his credit, he does at least offer
suggestions for those who experience God as aloof, and yet desire a
deeper spiritual experience. The spiritual experience that he presents
is one in which God is nourishing, even as God puts people through a
rough ride.
I give this book four stars. It was thoughtful. Yet, it could have
done more to portray God as one who woos people to Godself. Plus, as I
said above, it did have tensions, which were not resolved overly well.
I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.