The Book Corner
A. W. Tozer. By David J. Fant, Jr. Harrisburgh, Pa: Christian Publications, Inc. 1964. 181 pp. Paper. N.p.
A dear friend of mine is a Tozer buff. Consequently, I have through his kindness been well supplied with the writings of A. W. Tozer, and presently I still have several of his books to read, even though I’ve read three over the past few months. It is to Tozer’s biography that I would seek to introduce you here.
Reared on a farm and as a lad limited to a one-room country school education, A. W. Tozer nevertheless achieved the rank of a scholar by a “do-it-yourself’ method.
As biographies go, this one is different. Throughout, Tozer is permitted to speak for himself, making the book more like an autobiography than a biography. In addition to presenting a brief survey of his life, the author gives us a sampling of Tozer’s work as prophet (the subtitle of the book is “A Twentieth Century Prophet”) , scholar, mystic, theologian, pastor, missionary, author, and editor “a man of indefatigable zeal with an insatiable craving for God.”
Included in the book is a selection of choice poems, famous quotations, popular illustrations, and recommended books.
It was as a pastor in Chicago that Tozer rose to a place of eminence during his successful ministry of 31 years, and a weekly radio broadcast increased his influence. He was often a guest speaker at Bible and missionary conventions from coast to coast, as well as a preacher to preachers and college students. He reached the zenith of his power as editor of The Alliance Witness, through which he gained international recognition. Most effective were his editorials which were published simultaneously in the United States and Great Britain. His writings were translated into more than 15 languages and appeared in numerous religious periodicals. Such were his gifts that when he spoke, people listened; and what he wrote, people read.
David J. Fant, Jr. rendered a great service in so writing of Tozer as to allow him to stimulate the mind and stir the heart. It is with pleasure and enthusiasm that I both commend and recommend this very different biography to you. You will be blessed and enriched by reading it.
— The Editor