“Were Christians today reading such works as those of Augustine or Anselm a book like this would have no reason for being. But such illuminated masters are known to modern Christians only by name. Publishers dutifully reprint their books and in due time these appear on the shelves of our studies. But the whole truth lies right there: they remain on the shelves. The current religious mood makes the reading of them virtually impossible even for educated Christians” (A. W. Tozer).
I would give a hearty “amen” to the above statement though I see the same thing regarding the writings of Jonathan Edwards, John Owen and Stephen Charnock. It is true that these men are sometimes read, but I am not sure that they are often understood. What is interesting to note is that Tozer thinks that the illuminated masters are not read because of the “current religious mood.” He even thought that that current religious mood made “the reading of them virtually impossible.” Okay, one might argue, “but that is because everything is being dumbed down in our day.” That is a good argument too, but Tozer says that the reading was virtually impossible “even for educated Christians.” What could he have meant?
Without trying to read Tozer’s mind, especially since he wrote his book about 45 years ago, we will try to think through this statement as it applies to today. There are many focuses and moods within Christianity today that make the reading and digesting of the illuminated masters virtually impossible. One, there is a branch of anti-intellectualism that tends to stay away from things that make one think. Two, there is a branch of intellectualism that tends to stay away from anything that sounds mystical. Third, there is the practical crowd which just wants to be involved in evangelism or social activities and thinks that all that reading just keeps people from doing good. Four, there is the moralistic crowd which focuses on morality and does not worry about hard thinking. Five, there is the hyper-spiritual crowd which will not read anything but the Bible. All of these are related in some way to the previous blog in which Tozer says that a high view of God is necessary for spiritual power and true morality.
When any view, doctrine, practice, or version of morality is stressed in a way that is out of balance, the view that drives it is driven by an aberrant view of God. The resulting view of God will also be taken even further out of balance. The religious mood that comes from these views as they tilt more and more out of kilter with the center of the true character of God is one that does not like to study those who are more balanced. The anti-intellectual crowd will not read the good works of the past because they are not exercising their minds and the older works are hard to read. Besides that, pride will keep them from admitting that their intellects are too lazy and underdeveloped to love God with their entire mind as the Great Commandment dictates. The intellectual crowd has become so enthralled with the mind that they have forgotten that man has affections and a spiritual sight as well. So when the older writers speak of spiritual things that the mind does not have full access to, their pride is such that those things are held in contempt. It is beneath a rational being to think like that, they think.
The practical crowd is too busy “doing ministry” to spend time studying old books. After all, those older writers were not all that spiritual or they would have been “doing ministry” instead of wasting their time writing books that no one wants to read anyway. After all, spending all that time on reading and all that effort on trying to understand is simply not practical in this day and age when there is so much good to be done. The moralistic crowd just wants to be moral in the present day and those old books written about the glory of God, well, they just don’t have any real value for what needs to be done in our degenerate age. The hyper-spiritual crowd is just too proud about its Bible reading to believe that God might teach them from men who are not alive any more.
The real issue behind these resides in two things. One, we are in an age where independency and pride is the order of the day. But the real issue (two) common to all of the previous views and of the pride mentioned in one, is that man has lost sight of the glory of God. Once the glory of God has been tasted, nothing else will satisfy the soul. The soul that wants God will wade through heavy writings in order to gain a glimpse of God that others have had in a more spiritual day. It is not necessarily more spiritual to read older writers, though some have fallen into that trap, but they were written in a more spiritual and God-centered day. Until our day or some previous day receives grace to turn from such hideous sin as self-centeredness and pride to seek God with all of our beings, we will be turned over to various religious aspects of pride that reveal a shallow concept of God. “Show me Your glory.”
God Loves... Himself 
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