Short answer: The Pursuit of God concentrates on the believer’s hunger for and pursuit of God, while Man: The Dwelling Place of God explores the reality and implications of Christ dwelling within the believer. The first is especially strong on desire, surrender, awareness, and worship; the second broadens into questions of indwelling, Scripture, choices, fellowship, and everyday Christian life.
The central questions differ
A helpful way to compare Tozer books is to ask what question each book is trying to press on the reader.
The Pursuit of God asks: Will the Christian seek God Himself rather than settle for religious knowledge and activity?
Moody presents Man: The Dwelling Place of God around the question of what it means to have Christ living within the believer. Its description highlights leaving the old life, understanding the Bible, making godly choices, loving God for Himself, and Christian fellowship.
These concerns overlap, but the center of gravity is different.
The Pursuit of God: concentrated spiritual hunger
The ten chapters of The Pursuit of God form a connected call to:
- hunger for God;
- surrender rival treasures;
- confront the self-life;
- exercise faith;
- recognize God’s presence;
- receive His Word responsively;
- turn the soul’s gaze toward Him;
- restore the Creator-creature order;
- embrace meekness;
- make ordinary life worship.
It is especially effective when a Christian senses that faith has become mechanical or secondhand.
Man: The Dwelling Place of God: indwelling worked out
The second book is broader in application. The governing idea is that Christian life is not merely external religious conformity. If God truly dwells within His people, that reality should affect thought, choice, relationship, Scripture, and fellowship.
That makes it useful for readers asking:
- What does the indwelling of God mean for daily life?
- How should inner spiritual life affect choices?
- Why does Christian fellowship matter?
- How do Scripture and spiritual life belong together?
A theological caution
Language about God “dwelling” in believers should be handled biblically. The New Testament teaches the indwelling Holy Spirit and union with Christ, while preserving the Creator-creature distinction. Christians do not become divine beings. Tozer’s devotional language should be read in that biblical framework.
This is one reason his books are best read with Scripture open.
Which should you read first?
Read The Pursuit of God first if your need is renewed spiritual desire, surrender, and attention to God.
Read Man: The Dwelling Place of God first if you are especially interested in the implications of the indwelling Spirit and the inward reality of Christian life.
Read both if you want the movement from seeking God to living as one in whom God is at work and present by His Spirit.
A practical study method
For each chapter or essay, make two columns:
What this says about God
What this requires of the believer
Then test both columns against Scripture. This keeps devotional reading from becoming vague inspiration.
Source note
Moody Publishers describes Man: The Dwelling Place of God as exploring what it means to have Christ living in the believer and names practical areas such as Bible understanding, choices, love for God, and fellowship: https://www.moodypublishers.com/man-the-dwelling-place-of-god. The original Pursuit of God is available here: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/25141/25141-h/25141-h.htm.