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The Knowledge of the Holy

4.4 of 5 stars 4.40 · rating details · 4,257 ratings · 229 reviews

This timeless gift breathes a spirit of devotion for all Christians - those who are newly arrived and those who are committing themselves anew to Jesus Christ. Informative as well as inspiritional, "The Knowledge of the Holy" returns the towering Christian concept of God to the center of the religious mind, fostering a renewed appreciation of the magnitude of God's glory.

Paperback, 117 pages

Published November 15th 1978 by HarperOne (first published 1961)

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Sep 03, 2008 Matt rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People with the right hearts but wrong heads, sadly the exact opposite of who will probably read it.

Shelves: christianity, philosophy

Having never before read A.W. Tozer, I didn't know what to expect when I started reading this book, and if I expected anything I'm not sure that this was it.

The Knowledge of the Holy: The Attributes of God: Their Meaning in the Christian Life is a study in the unstudiable. It is a scrutiny of that which is inherently inscrutable. It is therefore I think doomed from the start, for the knowledge that it would convey is inexpressible and the wisdom it would impart is far beyond man's understanding....more

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Feb 25, 2009 Jonathan rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: All those who claim to believe in God.

Recommended to Jonathan by: Mom & Dad

Shelves: theology

There are innumerable errors of thought plaguing the Church today: relativism, materialism, pluralism, semi-Pelagianism; all are doing irreparable harm to sound doctrinal teaching. But all these errors stem from a single root cause: modern Christianity has lost the concept of the holiness of God. Many who claim to be Christians regard God the Father as a benevolent old grandfather who has little regard for sectarian squabbles and will let anyone into heaven so long as they "try to be a good pers...more There are innumerable errors of thought plaguing the Church today: relativism, materialism, pluralism, semi-Pelagianism; all are doing irreparable harm to sound doctrinal teaching. But all these errors stem from a single root cause: modern Christianity has lost the concept of the holiness of God. Many who claim to be Christians regard God the Father as a benevolent old grandfather who has little regard for sectarian squabbles and will let anyone into heaven so long as they "try to be a good person". Not only is such a view completely unscriptural, it reveals an utter lack of respect for the God who has revealed Himself that we might worship Him as He truly exists.

At the outset of this discussion on the attributes of God, theologian A.W. Tozer emphasizes the importance of thinking rightly about God. "Among the sins to which the human heart is prone," he writes, "hardly any other is more hateful to God that idolatry, for idolatry is at bottom a libel on His character. The idolatrous heart assumes that God is other than He is – in itself a monstrous sin – and substitutes for the true God one made after its own likeness." Whether out of a desire to justify some manner of sinful living, or out of simple laziness, failure to entertain truthful notions about God will surely carry eternal, as well as temporal, consequences.

After giving this warning, Tozer moves on to address the issue by elaborating many of the attributes of God as they are revealed in His Word. From the eternal self-existence of God to His omnipotent character, from His mercy to His absolute sovereignty, Tozer goes straight to the heart of classical theology. In brief but cogent summaries he outlines many of the things that make God who He is. This small book is easy to read, but will provide a reference point and solid foundation for more exhaustive studies.

To steer one's soul from the apostasy of this age, Tower offers this advice: Acquaint thyself with God. And the resource he has provided is an excellent place to start.(less)

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Sep 18, 2012 Robbie Pruitt rated it 5 of 5 stars

Nothing is more important than a right understanding of God, or "thinking rightly about God." In Knowledge of the Holy, A.W. Tozer states, "The Church has surrendered her once lofty concept of God and has substituted for it one so low, so ignoble, as to be utterly unworthy of thinking, worshipping men." Tozer is addressing idol worship that many fall into by thinking wrongly about God.

It is into this reality that Tozer speaks in his book, Knowledge of the Holy, which is an excellent study of the...more Nothing is more important than a right understanding of God, or "thinking rightly about God." In Knowledge of the Holy, A.W. Tozer states, "The Church has surrendered her once lofty concept of God and has substituted for it one so low, so ignoble, as to be utterly unworthy of thinking, worshipping men." Tozer is addressing idol worship that many fall into by thinking wrongly about God.

It is into this reality that Tozer speaks in his book, Knowledge of the Holy, which is an excellent study of the attributes of God. Tozer describes in detail the importance of thinking rightly about God. Going so far as asserting, "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us." When it comes to our thinking about God, everything is at stake. We must think deeply and accurately about God if we are to know Him and worship Him rightly and truthfully.

An attribute study is a great way to come to know God more deeply and is a great way to explore the richness of the scriptures in a more non-linear approach. The book Knowledge of the Holy, by A.W. Tozer, covers some essential thoughts and attributes of God, as well as doctrines, that every Christian should think about. As Tozer rightly points out, "The study of the attributes of God, far from being dull and heavy, may for the enlightened Christian be a sweet and absorbing spiritual exercise. To the soul that is athirst for God, nothing could be more delightful." As we seek God and seek to have our thirsts for Him quenched, this book, in addition to scripture, prayer, and community, is a great place to start.

A thorough reading of Knowledge of the Holy highlights so many truths about God. We are plunged into the depths of God's character and nature and are left in a state of awe and worship in the presence of an awesome God. While we will spend a lifetime and an eternity seeking to know God completely and to worship Him rightly, we can know God and worship Him now. To quote Tozer one last time, "To our questions God has provided answers; not all the answers, certainly, but enough to satisfy our intellects and ravish our hearts. These answers He has provided in nature, in the Scriptures, and in the person of His Son." How marvelous it is to wonder at His greatness and to think rightly about our God!(less)

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May 03, 2012 Sushant rated it 5 of 5 stars

Great book!

There was a story I learned growing up. Five blind men who did not know what an elephant was like found an elephant. Since they could not see, they felt around to imagine what an elephant would be like. One felt the leg and said, "An elephant is like a tower!". Another felt the trunk and said, "No! it is more like a python!". Another felt the tail and said," No! An elephant is more like a rope!". Another felt the stomach and said," You are all wrong! An elephant is like a big sack!" T...more

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Dec 21, 2011 Matt Awesome rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book was one of those paradigm shifters for me. Tozer put in me in my place with respect to God. Tozer, in his pretty formulaic way, describes God for us. He lays out God's attributes, from majesty to faithfulness.

We tend to read the Bible and come across verses that say things like, "He stretches out the north over the void and hangs the earth on nothing." (Job 26:7) and respond by thinking, "Oh yah, God created the world. I knew that." We forget that if God is exactly who he says he is i...more This book was one of those paradigm shifters for me. Tozer put in me in my place with respect to God. Tozer, in his pretty formulaic way, describes God for us. He lays out God's attributes, from majesty to faithfulness.

We tend to read the Bible and come across verses that say things like, "He stretches out the north over the void and hangs the earth on nothing." (Job 26:7) and respond by thinking, "Oh yah, God created the world. I knew that." We forget that if God is exactly who he says he is in the Bible, that really is paradigm-shifting. It really should make us stop and want to read more. Most importantly, if you really are grasping what God says to you in the Bible, it WILL change your life. God is not the mushy boyfriend that our youth group worship teams have made him out to be, nor is he the ignorant father that many disillusioned people can assume he is. God is the perfect God; exactly how he reveals himself to us. Tozer encourages his readers to desperately search out who God is, not in their own understanding, but with the guidance of the only one who is capable of truly revealing his mysteries: God himself. These are the conclusions that Tozer helped me come to and I have a very strong feeling that Francis Chan must have read some of Tozer's stuff, because the awe of who God is, is evident in both of these writer's works. If you like the idea of powerful theology, also look up John Piper.

Best quote from KOTH: There are actually too many mind-bending thoughts in this book to narrow it down to one good quote, so pick it up for yourself. Some quotes from KOTH:

"Always the most revealing thing about the Church is her idea of God, just as her most significant message is what she says about Him or leaves unsaid, for her silence is often more eloquent than her speech. She can never escape the self-disclosure of her witness concerning God."

"Secularism, materialism, and the intrusive presence of things have put out the light in our souls and turned us into a generation of zombies. We cover our deep ignorance with words, but we are ashamed to wonder, we are afraid to whisper “mystery.”"

"The faithfulness of God is a datum of sound theology but to the believer it becomes far more that that: it passes through the processes of the understanding and goes on to become nourishing food for the soul. For the Scriptures not only teach truth, they show also its uses for mankind. The inspired writers were men of like passion with us, dwelling in the midst of life. What they learned about God became to them a sword, a shield, a hammer; it became their life motivation, their good hope, and their confident expectation."

I pray that God reveals himself to you and that you live in worship.(less)

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Sep 30, 2011 Nathan Good rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is an excellent book which considers many attributes of God each separately while recognizing throughout that they are all connected (or more properly, one unified being, which is God Himself. Tozer would say that you cannot say God's attributes are interconnected, because you cannot properly even tease them apart.) He also emphasizes the need to grow in a knowledge of God even though He is unknowable. The book would be all but perfect if it were not for the last two chapters. Throughout th...more

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Oct 21, 2010 Natalie Wickham rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: christian-living, theology

This is a brief, but classic, work that I read in preparation for a Bible study in which I was involved this fall. There are 23 chapters, each only several pages long, that expound on some of the many attributes and aspects of God’s nature. A statement in the preface encapsulates nicely why it is so critical to study God: “It is impossible to keep our moral practices sound and our inward attitudes right while our idea of God is erroneous or inadequate.” In the first chapter, Tozer adds, “A right...more

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Dec 10, 2009 Reid rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: those who are confused about God; those who want a fresh look at God

Recommended to Reid by: teachers in Bible school, Chip Ingram in a recent DVD

Shelves: christian-living, christian-ministry-general, spiritual-disciplines

"What comes to mind when we think about God is the most important thing about us."

Tozer believed that the reason for the decline and weakness of the church laid square in the lack of solid understanding of God and His attributes.

"The decline of the knowledge of the holy has brought on our troubles. A rediscovery of the majesty of God will go a long way toward curing them. It is impossible to keep our moral practices sound and our inward attributes right while our idea of God is erroneous or inad...more

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Dec 20, 2012 Annette rated it 5 of 5 stars

Summary:

"What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us." page 1

Jesus asked a similar question in Mathew 16:13 and Luke 9:18, "Who do the crowds say that I am?"
In The Knowledge of the Holy, Tozer attempts in human words to explain the attributes of God. To capture in words the majesty of God, or His sovereignty, or His infinitude----is impossible. Because, human words with human explanations fall short. Tozer has been interpreted and described as an evan...more

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Jan 19, 2012 Eric Hoff added it

A. W. Tozer wrote this book in order to change the church’s view of God, making it higher and grander. In his mind the God of the church today is low and not worth worshipping, and only by meditating on the character and attributes of God will this be changed. To know God better requires effort and concentration, but Tozer’s book is not written for “professional theologians” but “plain persons whose hearts stir them up to seek after God Himself.
Tozer teaches us about God by analyzing 21 attrib...more

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May 16, 2012 Aaron rated it 5 of 5 stars

Tozer knocks it out of the park:

"To regain her lost power the Church must see heaven opened and have a transforming vision of God. But the God we must see is not the utilitarian God who is having such a run of popularity today, whose chief claim to men’s attention is His ability to bring them success in their various undertakings and who for that reason is being cajoled and flattered by everyone who wants a favor. The God we must learn to know is the Majesty in the heavens, God the Father Almigh...more

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Mar 29, 2013 Candice rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Candice by: Matt Styles

For a mere review from me reduces any holiness for the grandiose scale of the book though short in quantity however irrelevant to quality, I've added quotes that touched me.

Reflection upon revealed truth naturally follows the advent of faith, but faith comes first to the hearing ear, not to the cogitating mind. The believing man does not ponder the Word and arrive at faith by a process of reasoning, nor does he seek confirmation of faith from philosophy or science. His cry is, "O, earth, earth,...more For a mere review from me reduces any holiness for the grandiose scale of the book though short in quantity however irrelevant to quality, I've added quotes that touched me.

Reflection upon revealed truth naturally follows the advent of faith, but faith comes first to the hearing ear, not to the cogitating mind. The believing man does not ponder the Word and arrive at faith by a process of reasoning, nor does he seek confirmation of faith from philosophy or science. His cry is, "O, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord. Yea, let God be true, but every man a liar.

In the language of evangelism the man who is thus confronted by the fiery presence of Almighty God is said to be under conviction. Christ referred to this when He said of the Spirit whom He would send to the world, "And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." The earliest fulfillment of these words of Christ was at Pentecost after Peter had preached the first great Christian sermon. "Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?" This "What shall we do?" is the deep heart cry of every man who suddenly realizes that he is a usurper and sits on a stolen throne. However painful, it is precisely this acute moral consternation that produces true repentance and makes a robust Christian after the penitent has been dethroned and has found forgiveness and peace through the gospel.

For every man it must be Christ or eternal tragedy.

Enter the inner chamber of thy mind; shut out all thoughts save that of God and such as can aid thee in seeking Him. Speak now, my whole heart! Speak now to God, saying, I seek Thy face; Thy face, Lord, will I seek.

For human beings the whole possibility of redemption lies in their ability to change. To move across from one sort of person to another is the essence of repentance: the fear liar becomes truthful, the thief honest, the lewd pure, the proud humble. The whole moral texture of the life is altered. The thoughts, the desires, the affections are transformed, and the man is no longer what he had been before. So radical is this change that the apostle calls the man that used to be "the old man" and the man that now is "the new man, which is renewed is knowledge after the image of him that created him.

...we shall not seek to understand in order that we may believe, but to believe in order that we may understand.

This fear of God was more than a natural apprehension of danger; it was a nonrational dread, an acute feeling of personal insufficiency in the presence of God the Almighty, Wherever God appeared to men in Bible times the results were the same- an overwhelming sense of terror and dismay, a wrenching sensation of sinfulness and guilt.

To receive mercy we must first know that God is merciful. And it is not enough to believe that He once showed mercy to Noah or Abraham or David and will again show mercy in some happy future day. We must believe that God's mercy is boundless, free and, through Jesus Christ our Lord, available to us now in our present situation.

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Jul 25, 2011 Christopher M. rated it 5 of 5 stars

A fantastic overview of the attributes of God. Biblically sound, eloquent, concise, and readable, Tozer manages to hit on the major attributes of God (though, we could probably find many more to add) while not getting too carried away into philosophic proofs and rabbit trails. He assumes that the truth in the book will only be understood by the person already possessing faith, so while he does go to lengths to describe the person of faith, especially toward the end, he does not belabor the point...more

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Nov 11, 2009 Michael rated it 2 of 5 stars

Recommended to Michael by: Rodney Cripps

Shelves: christianity, theology

In this work, Tozer tackles arguably the most important question in life—Who is God? He correctly ascertains that so as we think about God, so as life goes. And in his attempt to tell what God is like, he succeeds in at least outlining the major characteristics of God as held by classical, orthodox Christianity.
I’d venture to guess that concepts of God’s unity, simplicity, and being aren’t being discussed, much less understood, outside of a few seminaries, and most of them Catholic. The forma...more

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Aug 06, 2012 Edwin rated it 5 of 5 stars

I read this book back in college and am re-reading it for a Bible study this fall. Tozer deserves to be read and reread. He is the kind of author who needs to be read with your head bowed. He deserves to be listened to as a mentor who is saturated in the Word of God and the classical Christian writers.
"Knowledge of the Holy" is easy and hard to read. The chapters are short so that you can easily read through one at the start of your day. He is also hard to read because he forces you to stop, thi...more

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May 04, 2012 Craig rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, theology, christianity

Wow. I couldn't put this down! Tozer does an absolutely amazing job of describing the awesomeness of God. Like most great men of Christianity in the last millennium, he is extremely humble in spirit when he gives his descriptions, a rightfully contrite attitude that is really necessary when contemplating the great things of The Holy One. In fact, I think it's his attitude which shows through the pages that helps to make this book so powerful. To view oneself in comparison to the almighty God to...more

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Dec 04, 2012 Jillian rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A. W. Tozer’s The Knowledge of the Holy is an exploration of the attributes of God. Tozer intended this book to cause Christians to rediscover the majesty of God. Each of the short devotional chapters covers a different attribute of God. Tozer reverently describes attributes of God and encourages the reader to meditate on them. The book’s greatest strength is the author’s tone. Tozer makes the reader realize the importance and gravity of his subject with his deep and careful insights from the Wo...more

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Jan 13, 2012 Crossroads Ecc marked it as to-read

Excerpt of Chip Ingram's thoughts: “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. For this reason, the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at an given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like.” Main themes in the book include:
• God takes holy pleasure in the happiness of his people
• God has a good plan
• I’m the object of his affection
“The wh...more

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Mar 30, 2011 Amy Litzelman rated it 5 of 5 stars

A.W. Tozer is much love and respected with good reason. He speaks truth in straight forward sentences that cause the reader to stop and ponder. The first line of "The Knowledge of the Holy" grabbed my heart and attention so fully that it took me most of the day to get past it as I savored it over and over... and I go back to it again and again as a favorite quote:

"What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us."

These types of statements cannot be written b...more

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Oct 29, 2012 Laura rated it 2 of 5 stars

I'm giving this 2 stars because it wasn't as good as I wanted it to be. If you want to read about the holiness of God, I recommend R.C. Sproul's book The Holiness of God as a better alternative. (It's been a while since I read that one, but I remember its depth. It brought me to a sense of awe and worship, and gave me new perspectives and deeper ideas about God.) If you want to read Tozer on the various characteristics of God, I recommend The Attributes of God. (At least volume 1. I haven't read...more

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Aug 18, 2010 Stephanie Blake rated it 5 of 5 stars

I have read several of his books, but the one that has yellow highlights all the way through is "The Knowledge of the Holy". Several wonderful quotes from that work are:

* “He needs no one, but when faith is present, He works through anyone.”
* “God dwells in eternity but time dwells in God.”
* “He never differs from Himself. The concept of a growing or developing God is not found in Scriptures. . . . Is it not a source of wondrous strength to know that the God with whom we have to do changes no...more

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Dec 12, 2012 Jacqueline rated it 5 of 5 stars

This should be mandatory reading for, like, everybody. :)

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Jan 10, 2009 Brandon rated it 5 of 5 stars

This was a surprisingly good little book. Gets into talking about the attributes of God, but in a very cutting sort of way. Both mysterious and reasonable. The author states:

"I think it might be demonstrated that almost every heresy that has afflicted the church through the years has arisen from believing about God things that are not true, or from overemphasizing certain things so as to obscure other things equally true."

...and then he spent a good deal of time correcting my thinking and conne...more This was a surprisingly good little book. Gets into talking about the attributes of God, but in a very cutting sort of way. Both mysterious and reasonable. The author states:

"I think it might be demonstrated that almost every heresy that has afflicted the church through the years has arisen from believing about God things that are not true, or from overemphasizing certain things so as to obscure other things equally true."

...and then he spent a good deal of time correcting my thinking and connecting it with my heart. Bravo. (less)

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Oct 12, 2009 Jan rated it 4 of 5 stars

This very thought-provoking and worship-full little book by Tozer (always good for a profound read) was composed of short little chapters, each focusing on a different characteristic of God. Chock-full of scripture references and grounded theology I found each chapter bringing me to a deeper understanding of who God is. Some of the characteristics covered were omniscience, omnipotence, sovereignty, grace, mercy, love. But my favorite was on God's immutability - His inability to change. Therefore...more

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Mar 09, 2013 Sue rated it 5 of 5 stars

If you want a greater understanding of who God is and our place as his created beings in his plan ,this is the book to read. The author clearly points out that we as humans can never understand God fully but at the same time gives a clearer understanding of who God is. There is a great release from having to do things ,when we realise that God can do everything without you, even the things we think he has called us to do. Because he chooses to ask us that does not mean he needs us . This book em...more

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Apr 02, 2013 Manuel rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Excelente.

El estilo del autor demuestra una gran franqueza a la hora de exponer temas complejos. Es, pues, conciso en su exposición. Las primeras páginas son sorprendentes y cautivadores y este ritmo no se pierde en todo el texto.

Pone de manifiesto una verdad antigua, pero olvidada hoy: el verdadero cristiano es una persona que tiene el conocimiento de Di-s, sabe quién es Él y vive conforme a Su palabra revelada; y ha dejado atrás las apariencias.

Se pierde de una necesaria reflexión quien no l...more

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May 16, 2012 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: book-study

I had seen and heard A. W. Tozer quotes quite often before reading this book. When the leader of the book study I'm in announced we were reading this book next, I was excited to learn what else this king of quotes had to say. We read Knowledge of the Holy as an effort to take a look at the character of God so that we may better know him and then better know his will for our lives and be better able to low forward on obedience.

There is so much we reduce and truncate about who God is, all of whic...more

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Aug 30, 2012 Bill rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: theology, christian-life

I read this book at a rate of one chapter each morning, kind of ‘devotional theology’ to go along with regular bible reading and prayer. It was an experiment, and it was great – it may reveal more about my personality than anything else, but I find this kind of theological reading much more encouraging and practically helpful than typical devotional material that I have read in the past. The book itself is known as a classic, and deservedly so. Tozer’s intense, earnest style is perfectly suited...more

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Mar 22, 2012 Rebekah Choat rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: owned

Tozer posits that “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us,” and that a right conception of God is absolutely necessary not only for systematic theology but also for practical Christian living. He laments the fact that the Church has lost the true concept of the holiness and majesty of God and “has substituted for it one so low, so ignoble, as to be utterly unworthy of thinking, worshipping men.” He then sets out to address the question of what God...more Tozer posits that “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us,” and that a right conception of God is absolutely necessary not only for systematic theology but also for practical Christian living. He laments the fact that the Church has lost the true concept of the holiness and majesty of God and “has substituted for it one so low, so ignoble, as to be utterly unworthy of thinking, worshipping men.” He then sets out to address the question of what God is like, immediately acknowledging that God is not exactly like anything or anyone that we can know in our limited human experience and understanding, but stating that “We learn by using what we already know as a bridge over which we pass into the unknown.” He goes on to suggest that the question is best reframed and examined by asking what God has disclosed about Himself that can be comprehended by men who approach the task with reverent reason.

For the purpose of this book, Tozer defines an attribute of God as “whatever God has in any way revealed as being true of Himself.” Words such as trait, characteristic, and quality, he explains, though necessary when talking of created beings are inappropriate when thinking of God. An attribute is not a part of God’s character, or a quality He possesses, but quite simply how God is.

After a discussion of the mystery of the Trinity, Tozer embarks on a detailed examination of eighteen attributes of God, among them infinitude, omniscience, transcendence, goodness, mercy, and sovereignty. He guides us to a clear understanding of what each attribute means, and shows that none is a definitive picture of God and none is dependent upon any other; rather, they are all facets of His unitary being, an essential oneness.

The book concludes with a final chapter reiterating the imperative necessity of having a clear and right concept of God, and pointing out that although this knowledge seems difficult to attain, it is available to all who will follow Christ devotedly and seek Him wholeheartedly.
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Oct 18, 2012 Andrea rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: theology, favorites

One of the things I liked (and, at first, didn't like) about this book is that it is divided into 3-5 page chapters centering around an attribute of God. The only thing I didn't like about this format is that I often wanted MORE. How do you discuss the omniscience of God in 4 pages? However, if you only have 4 pages to read about the omniscience of God, I would argue that Tozer puts forth a compelling, logical, Biblical and beautiful essay, for this attribute and all the others (I think he discu...more One of the things I liked (and, at first, didn't like) about this book is that it is divided into 3-5 page chapters centering around an attribute of God. The only thing I didn't like about this format is that I often wanted MORE. How do you discuss the omniscience of God in 4 pages? However, if you only have 4 pages to read about the omniscience of God, I would argue that Tozer puts forth a compelling, logical, Biblical and beautiful essay, for this attribute and all the others (I think he discusses somewhere around 20). Even if you had all the time in the word to contemplate and research the attributes of God, Tozer's work here should not BY ANY MEANS be ignored as basic or summarizing. The theology that Tozer neatly unpacks in each chapter is hard-hitting, revealing and worshipful.

The more I read through this book, the more I began to appreciate the succint format because I found each chapter to be almost like a devotional that I know I will return to often. Tozer's formatting makes it possible to flip to a particular chapter and be engulfed in the knowledge of that attribute, bringing significant benefit to daily living and theology in general. Each chapter may at one time offer great comfort and, at another, be a strong reminder of why our God is to be feared.

The chapters seem to build on each other, or, at least, introduce related attributes in a way that lets the mind be primed to receive the next piece by the reading of the last.

One of the concepts that had a great impact on me, found throughout the book, was that God's attributes are eternal and infinite. He is each of them to the same degree as he is all of them, and at the same time (love and justice are working inseparably and are perfectly consistent with each other). God's attributes not only work perfectly together, but all of his actions are consisent with them as well. What a holy and awesome God! I also really apprecaited learning that these attritbutes are not something that God "has," as if the attribute itself is outside of or more immense than God. God IS these attribues. He is the source and the perfection of these qualities, although our understanding of these attributes is so limited by our "creature minds."

This book taught me just as much (if not more) about the nature and work of God, as it did about each of the specified characteristics by themselves. I highly recommened this short, powerful book. I know it will never lay on my bookshelve for any great length of time before I come back to it, in part or in whole. (less)

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About A.W. Tozer

Aiden Wilson Tozer was an American evangelical pastor, speaker, writer, and editor. After coming to Christ at the age of seventeen, Tozer found his way into the Christian & Missionary Alliance denomination where he served for over forty years. In 1950, he was appointed by the denomination's General Council to be the editor of "The Alliance Witness" (now "Alliance Life").

Born into poverty in we...more

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Books by A.W. Tozer

The Pursuit of Man: The Divine Conquest of the Human Heart

The Attributes of God: A Journey Into the Father's Heart (The Attributes of God, Volume 1)

Whatever Happened to Worship?: A Call to True Worship

The Radical Cross: Living the Passion of Christ

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Quotes from The Knowledge of the Holy

“Any faith that must be supported by the evidence of the senses is not real faith.” — 97 people liked it

“Nothing is complete in itself but requires something outside itself in order to exist.” — 38 people liked it

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The Knowledge of the Holy

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