Surprised by Tozer #3 of 5:: Tozer & Lewis

By faith we know…

(Hebrew 11:3)

Tozer speaks out against what he calls “modern fundamentalism”. It’s a surprising phrase. We don’t usually think of fundamentalist Christians as “modernist”, do we?

According to Tozer, what makes fundamentalist modern, is their insistence that by external reason they can prove the Gospel true. Tozer will have none of it. Listen to him rail: “This humble pulpit is never open to a man who wants to prove Christianity by means of appeal to external evidence. You can’t do it to begin with, and I wouldn’t do it to end with. We have something better” (p.18).

That something better is the internal witness of the Holy Spirit: “The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are God’s children” (Ro 8:16). “If someone can reason you into the kingdom of God;” Tozer often points out, “someone can reason you out of the kingdom of God.”  Tozer didn’t think much of apologetics: “I am taking Christian apologetics out of the realm of logic and putting it into the realm of life. …The proof lies in an invisible, unseen but powerful energy that visits the human soul when the gospel is preached—the Holy Ghost!"

Hearing Tozer fuss with apologetics caused me think of C.S. Lewis. Lewis (1898-1963) and Tozer (1897-1963) where contemporaries—almost to the year. Among evangelical Christians, Lewis and Tozer are the most read authors—both today more popular than ever. They never met. I doubt if Lewis ever heard of Tozer. They traveled in different circles. What Tozer heard or read of Lewis, he didn’t like—too much of a rationalist, Tozer figured. Tozer was wrong about Lewis. Lewis is much closer to Tozer than those “modern fundamentalist”. Lewis never uses the word “proof”; but, rather “clues”.

Lewis’ conversion from atheism to theism had to do not so much with external clues, as it did with internal “stabs of joy.” His conversion from theism to Christianity; however, was something even more internal, even strange. On his way to the London Zoo, riding in the side car of his brother’s motorcycle, Lewis, though a theist, was not a Christian; however, on their return home, riding in the side car of He his brother’s motorcycle, Lewis was a Christian. That’s it. From that side car moment on, Lewis kept the faith, and became one of the churches greatest defenders of the gospel.

If Lewis and Tozer could have met, I thing Tozer would be surprised by Lewis. He’s not the rationalist Tozer thought he was. Maybe Tozer would even allow Lewis to preach the gospel from his “humble pulpit”.