My dissertation on Oswald Chambers is essentially a 375-page, heavily researched book that I spent a year and a half writing, and that only half a dozen people have ever seen, including the members of my doctoral committee. This isn’t counting whoever may have checked it out at Wheaton College from the Wheaton Archives and Special Collections in Buswell Library, where I donated a copy in gratitude for being given access to the Oswald Chambers Papers.

Two years ago, I published the introduction in my Living Dark newsletter. It drew several comments and quite a few private communications. I think the odd fusion of opposites in Oswald’s public status—he’s simultaneously a titan to evangelical Christians and all but invisible to everyone else—probably contributes to his fascination. That, plus the inherently fascinating quality of his work, his person, and his deep and vibrant spiritual vision.

Other than that newsletter post, my dissertation has sat there, silent and unread, in an electronic folder for seven years, though I promised at the end of the post that I would share more in the future, including the chapter where I describe the “dark night” crisis that Oswald encountered during his theological training and spiritual formation, and that contributed foundationally to his explosive and energetic career as a teacher, preacher, missionary, and posthumous co-author (with his wife and widow, Gertrude “Biddy” Chambers) of many books, including the classic and colossally influential My Utmost for His Highest.

Recently I’ve been feeling a pull to make good on that promise. I also felt a pull to reflect on the whole thing here in a Note. Who knows, I might end up sharing more of the dissertation as well.

For now, here’s that introduction, about a man who became one of the most influential Christian voices of the modern era without ever becoming widely known.