How Can You Create a Concept Map for Each Chapter of The Pursuit of God?

Short answer: Create a concept map for each chapter by placing the chapter’s central idea in the middle and connecting it to five branches: the problem Tozer identifies, the truth he emphasizes, the biblical passages that govern the idea, the response he calls for, and the connections to other chapters. A concept map should show relationships, not merely restate the chapter summary.

Why use a concept map?

Linear notes record ideas in sequence. A concept map shows how ideas depend on and affect one another. That is useful with The Pursuit of God because Tozer often moves from a spiritual problem to an image, then to a theological truth, then to a personal response.

A map can make that movement visible on one page.

Use one page per chapter

Write the chapter title in the center. Around it create five main branches:

1. The spiritual problem

What condition or obstacle is Tozer confronting? Examples might include complacency, possessiveness, the self-life, weak spiritual perception, inattentiveness to God’s presence, distorted faith, self-exaltation, or the separation of ordinary life from worship.

2. The central truth

What does Tozer want the reader to see about God, faith, or the Christian life? Keep this to one sentence.

3. Biblical anchors

Add two to four passages that actually address the idea. Scripture is not a decorative branch. It is the branch that tests and governs the rest of the map.

4. The response

What kind of response does the chapter invite—surrender, repentance, faith, attention, humility, worship, obedience?

5. Connections

Draw arrows to earlier or later chapters that develop the same theme.

Add relationship words to the arrows

Do not draw unexplained lines. Label the relationship:

causes
blocks
requires
clarifies
develops
contrasts with
results in

For example, you might connect “self-life” to “pride” with produces, and connect “meekness” to “rest” with leads toward. Relationship words turn the map into reasoning rather than decoration.

Example: Chapter 2

Center: The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing.

Possible branches:

Problem: inward possessiveness and attachment.
Truth: God Himself must remain the supreme treasure.
Biblical anchors: Genesis 22; Matthew 6:19–21; Philippians 3:7–8.
Response: surrender what competes with God; practice stewardship without being owned by possessions.
Connections: Chapter 3’s self-life; Chapter 8’s Creator-creature relationship.

The point is not to claim these are the only correct branches. Your map should reflect careful reading and biblical evaluation.

Example: Chapter 7

Center: The Gaze of the Soul.

Branches may include:

Problem: faith reduced to mental or religious technique.
Truth: Tozer pictures faith as the sustained inward direction of trust toward God.
Biblical anchors: Hebrews 12:1–2; John 3:14–16; 2 Corinthians 4:18.
Response: redirect attention toward Christ rather than obsessive self-measurement.
Connections: Chapter 4’s spiritual perception and Chapter 5’s awareness of God’s presence.

Build a master map after all ten chapters

Once the ten individual maps are complete, place the chapter titles around one large page and connect only the strongest relationships. This master map should answer:

Which themes begin early and continue throughout?
Which chapters primarily expose obstacles?
Which chapters primarily describe faith or response?
How does the final chapter bring pursuit into ordinary life?

You may discover that the book’s movement is not simply linear. Several themes circle back and deepen.

Use visual restraint

A map becomes useless when every sentence becomes a node. Limit each branch to short phrases. If a branch requires a paragraph, place the paragraph in separate notes and keep the map as an index.

You may use shapes, icons, or color if they help you distinguish categories, but consistency matters more than artistic complexity.

Turn the map into teaching

For a small group, ask each participant to explain one branch without reading the chapter aloud. For a leader, the concept map can serve as a discussion outline: problem, truth, Scripture, response, connection.

This also helps prevent discussion from staying at the level of favorite quotations.

Common mistakes

Do not make a concept map that is merely a decorated chapter summary.
Do not place Tozer’s ideas and Scripture on the same authority level.
Do not force a connection where the book does not support one.
Do not create so many nodes that the main idea disappears.
Do not treat your map as definitive; it is a learning tool.

Put It Into Practice

Choose one chapter and create the five-branch map. Add at least two relationship labels between branches. Then close the book and use only the map to explain the chapter to another person in three minutes. Revise any part that did not help you explain the idea accurately.

Conclusion: A chapter concept map helps readers see how Tozer’s problem, truth, biblical connections, response, and larger themes fit together. It is most valuable when it reveals relationships that ordinary linear notes hide.