Aiden Wilson Tozer (April 21, 1897 – May 12, 1963), commonly known as A.W. Tozer, was an American pastor, preacher, editor, and influential Christian author. He is best remembered for his deep, prophetic, and contemplative writings that call believers to a more intimate, reverent pursuit of God.

Early Life and Conversion

Tozer was born into a farming family near La Jose (in the Allegheny Mountains of western Pennsylvania). He grew up in rural poverty, attended a one-room schoolhouse, and never completed formal high school or college. When he was a teenager the family moved to Akron, Ohio, where his father worked in the rubber industry. At age 17 (around 1915), after overhearing a street preacher urge people to call on God for mercy, Tozer went home, climbed into the attic, and prayed for salvation. This marked the beginning of a lifelong, intense pursuit of God.

He was largely self-educated, spending countless hours in libraries and second-hand bookshops reading theology, church history, philosophy, poetry, and especially Christian mystical and devotional literature (Augustine, Bernard of Clairvaux, Thomas à Kempis, Brother Lawrence, and others).

Ministry

Tozer entered the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA) and began pastoral work in 1919. After serving smaller churches in West Virginia and Indiana, he became pastor of Southside Alliance Church in Chicago in 1928, remaining there for more than 30 years. The church became known for strong missionary support and attracted many students from nearby colleges and seminaries. He later served as pastor of Avenue Road Church in Toronto from 1959 until his death.

From 1950 onward he also edited The Alliance Weekly (later The Alliance Witness), the denomination’s magazine, using its pages for pointed, prophetic editorials that reached far beyond the C&MA. He received honorary doctorates from Wheaton College (1950) and Houghton College (1952).

Writings and Emphasis

Tozer wrote relatively few books during his lifetime (about nine), but many more volumes of his sermons and editorials have been published posthumously. His two most famous and enduring works are:

• The Pursuit of God (1948) — A classic call to leave behind superficial religion and seek a living, personal knowledge of God.

• The Knowledge of the Holy (1961) — A profound meditation on the attributes of God, beginning with the famous line: “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”

Other notable titles include The Divine Conquest, The Root of the Righteous, Born After Midnight, and the anthology The Christian Book of Mystical Verse.

His writing is marked by:

• A strong emphasis on the holiness, majesty, and presence of God

• A prophetic critique of shallow, entertainment-driven, or worldly Christianity

• A call to self-denial, worship, and “the continuous and unembarrassed interchange of love and thought between God and the soul”

• An appreciation for the contemplative/mystical tradition within orthodox Christianity (while remaining firmly evangelical and biblically grounded)

Personal Life and Legacy

Tozer married Ada Cecelia Pfautz; they had seven children. He was known for a simple lifestyle, deep prayer life, and a certain austerity. He died of a heart attack in Toronto on May 12, 1963, and was buried in Akron, Ohio. His epitaph reads simply: “A. W. Tozer — A Man of God.”

Though he never attended seminary and had limited formal education, Tozer’s books have sold millions of copies and continue to influence evangelicals, charismatics, and those seeking deeper spiritual life. He is often described as a 20th-century prophet who called the church back to the presence and knowledge of the living God.