When Was The Pursuit of God Written and First Published?

The Pursuit of God was first published in 1948 by Christian Publications in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The original edition carries a 1948 copyright notice, and A. W. Tozer dated his preface June 16, 1948, Chicago, Illinois. Those details give readers a firm historical anchor for the book: it emerged from Tozer’s Chicago pastoral ministry in the immediate post-World War II period.

What does the first edition actually tell us?

The most useful starting point is the original text itself. The 1948 title page identifies:

Author: A. W. Tozer
Introduction: Dr. Samuel M. Zwemer
Publisher: Christian Publications, Inc., Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Copyright year: 1948

The preface is dated June 16, 1948. That does not prove that every chapter was composed on that date or immediately before it, but it shows that the manuscript had reached a finished preface stage by mid-June 1948.

Library catalog records also identify the first edition as a 1948 Christian Publications title. This is important because modern editions may have different publishers, forewords, page counts, cover designs, or study material while still reproducing Tozer’s original ten chapters.

Was the book written over many years?

The ideas in the book clearly reflect years of prayer, preaching, reading, and pastoral reflection. Samuel Zwemer’s original introduction describes the work as the fruit of extended meditation and prayer. At the same time, the official A. W. Tozer biography reports that Tozer wrote the book on an overnight train. Because the surviving public accounts do not document every editorial stage, the safest conclusion is that the manuscript was produced with unusual speed after years of prior spiritual and pastoral formation.

Those two facts do not have to conflict.

A writer can form convictions over many years and then draft a book rapidly when the ideas have already matured. The best historical distinction is therefore:

The spiritual and theological material grew out of Tozer’s long ministry, while the book itself was composed with unusual speed in 1948.

For a closer look at the train story, see Did A. W. Tozer Really Write The Pursuit of God on a Train?.

Why does the 1948 date matter?

Knowing the date helps readers hear the book in its original setting. Tozer was not responding to smartphones, social media, streaming entertainment, or today’s church-growth vocabulary. Yet he was already concerned about religious busyness, programs, shallow worship, secondhand knowledge of God, and Christians who possessed correct doctrine without deep spiritual hunger.

That historical distance is one reason the book remains striking. Some of its language belongs to its era, but the spiritual questions it raises are not limited to 1948.

The date also helps readers distinguish Tozer’s original material from later additions. A modern edition may include:

a new foreword;
chapter summaries;
study questions;
Scripture cross-references;
discussion guides;
application exercises;
annotations;
modern spelling or formatting changes.

Those additions may be useful, but they should be clearly separated from Tozer’s 1948 text.

What did the original book contain?

The original edition contains Samuel M. Zwemer’s introduction, Tozer’s preface, and ten chapters:

Following Hard after God
The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing
Removing the Veil
Apprehending God
The Universal Presence
The Speaking Voice
The Gaze of the Soul
Restoring the Creator-Creature Relation
Meekness and Rest
The Sacrament of Living

That ten-chapter structure is a useful benchmark when comparing modern editions.

For a broader orientation, see The Pursuit of God: A Complete Guide to A. W. Tozer’s Spiritual Classic and What Is The Pursuit of God About?.

A simple historical timeline

Before 1948: Tozer serves as a pastor, preacher, reader, and devotional writer. The book’s central concerns develop out of his ministry and spiritual life.

1948: The Pursuit of God is prepared and published by Christian Publications. Tozer dates the preface June 16, 1948.

Later decades: The book is repeatedly reprinted and issued by multiple publishers and in many formats.

Today: The original work remains widely available, while modern publishers also offer annotated, study-guide, large-print, audiobook, and other editions.

What should a reader remember?

The safest concise answer is:

The Pursuit of God was written and first published in 1948. Its ideas reflect Tozer’s longer pastoral and devotional life, while biographical sources describe an unusually rapid drafting process during an overnight train journey.

That distinction is more accurate than saying either that the book appeared suddenly with no prior formation or that it took years to write in manuscript form.