The Pursuit of God

Resources for Application

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and theological depth, Tozer would point to his “friends” and “teachers”—a list of some thirty-five Christian spiritual classics he read and reread throughout his life. Tozer’s “teachers” served as mentors to whom he apprenticed himself throughout his long and fruitful ministry. Tozer was deeply committed to Christian spiritual classics. In an unpublished letter to William Peterson dated December 14, 1959, Tozer agreed to “list a few classics that every educated Christian should read.” These thirty-five Christian spiritual classics are listed below. In addition to these, Tozer noted in his Alliance Weekly editorial for March 21, 1956, that a number of mystical classics had been republished recently, in which he mentioned William Law and Jacob Boehme among the great names. In his book The Divine Conquest , Tozer lists the writers who were most helpful for him. The five spiritual writers on both lists are marked with an asterisk below. Tozer’s Thirty-Five “Teachers” 1. Adornment of the Spiritual Marriage , Jan van Ruysbroeck 2. Amendment of Life , Richard Rolle 3. Ascent of Mount Carmel , John of the Cross 4. The Ascent of Mount Zion , Berdardeno de Laredo

5. Centuries of Meditations , Thomas Traherne 6. Christian Perfection , François Fénelon* 7. The Cloud of Unknowing , Anonymous 8. Confessions , Augustine of Hippo