The Imitation of Christ (or De imitatione Christi), by Thomas à Kempis is one of the most widely read Christian spiritual books in existence. It was first published anonymously, in Latin, ca. 1418; several other authors have been proposed, but Kempis's authorship is now generally accepted. Thomas à Kempis (1380 - 1471) was a medieval Christian monk and author of Imitation of Christ, one of the most well-known Christian books on devotion. ... Jump to: navigation, search As a noun, Christian is an appellation and moniker deriving from the appellation Christ, which many people associate exclusively with Jesus of Nazareth. ... Jump to: navigation, search Latin is an Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... Events May 19 - Capture of Paris by John, Duke of Burgundy September - Beginning of English Siege of Rouen Mircea the Old, ruler of Wallachia dies and is succeeded by Vlad I Uzurpatorul. ...

Imitation of Christ is considered the pearl of all the writings of the mystical German-Dutch school of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and with the "Confessions" of Augustine and John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress it occupies a front rank, if not the foremost place, among useful manuals of devotion, after the Bible. Protestants and Roman Catholics alike join in giving it praise. The Jesuits give it an official place among their "exercises". John Wesley and John Newton put it among the works that influenced them at their conversion. General Gordon carried it with him to the battlefield. Confessions is the name of a series of thirteen books by St. ... Jump to: navigation, search St. ... John Bunyan. ... The Pilgrims Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come by John Bunyan (published 1678) is an allegorical novel. ... Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... The Society of Jesus (Latin: Societas Iesu), commonly known as the Jesuits, is a Roman Catholic religious order. ... Jump to: navigation, search For entries on other people named John Wesley, see John Wesley (disambiguation). ... John Newton (July 24, 1725–December 21, 1807) was an English clergyman and writer who wrote the hymn Amazing Grace after converting to Christianity and abandoning his participation in the slave trade. ... Chinese Gordon as Governor of Sudan Charles George Gordon, C.B. (January 28, 1833 - January 26, 1885), known as Chinese Gordon, Gordon Pasha, and Gordon of Khartoum, was a British army officer and administrator. ...

Few books have had so extensive a circulation. The number of counted editions exceeds 2,000; and 1,000 different editions are preserved in the British Museum. The Bullingen collection, donated to the city of Cologne in 1838, contained at the time 400 different editions. De Backer (Essai, ut inf.) enumerates 545 Latin and about 900 French editions. The main entrance to the British Museum The British Museum in London is the United Kingdoms - and one of the worlds - largest and most important museums of human history and culture. ... Jump to: navigation, search Cologne skyline at night with river Rhine in the foreground and famous Cologne Cathedral on the right. ...

Originally written in Latin, a French translation was made as early as 1447, which still remains in manuscript. The first printed French copies appeared at Toulouse in 1488. The earliest German translation was made in 1434 by J. de Bellorivo and is preserved in Cologne. The editions in German began at Augsburg in 1486. The first English translation (1502) was by William Atkinson and Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII, who did the fourth book. Translations appeared in Italian (Venice, 1488; Milan 1489), Spanish (Seville, 1536), Arabic (Rome, 1663), Armenian (Rome, 1674), Hebrew (Frankfort, 1837), and other languages. Pierre Corneille produced a poetical paraphrase in French in 1651. Margaret Beaufort, Queen Mother, at prayer, by an anonymous artist, about 1500 Margaret Beaufort (May 31, 1443 – June 29, 1509) was the daughter of John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset, granddaughter of John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset and great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt and his mistress Katherine Swynford... Henry VII (January 28, 1457 – April 21, 1509), King of England, Lord of Ireland (August 22, 1485 – April 21, 1509), was the founder of the Tudor dynasty. ... Pierre Corneille (June 6, 1606–October 1, 1684) was a French tragedian who was one of the three great dramatists produced by France during the 17th century, along with Molière and Racine. ...

The Imitation of Christ derives its title from the heading of the first book, De imitatione Christi et contemptu omnium vanitatum mundi. It consists of four books and seems to have been written in meter and rhyme, a fact first announced by K. Hirsche in 1874. The four books are not found in all the manuscripts, nor are they arranged invariably in the same order.

The work is a manual of devotion intended to help the soul in its communion with God and the pursuit of holiness. Its sentences are statements, not arguments, and are pitched in the highest key of Christian experience. It was meant for monastics and recluses. Behind and within all its reflections runs the counsel of self-renunciation.

The life of Christ is presented as the highest study possible to a mortal. His teachings far excel all the teachings of the saints. The book gives counsels to read the Scriptures, statements about the uses of adversity, advice for submission to authority, warnings against temptation and how to resist it, reflections about death and the judgment, meditations upon the oblation of Christ, and admonitions to flee the vanities of the world. Christ himself is more than all the wisdom of the schools and lifts the mind to perceive more of eternal truth in a moment of time than a student might learn in the schools in ten years.

Excellent as these counsels are, they are set in the minor key and are especially adapted for souls burdened with care and sorrow and sitting in darkness. They present only one side of the Christian life, and in order to compass the whole of it they must be supplemented by counsels for integrity, bravery, and constancy in the struggle of daily existence to which the vast mass of mankind, who can not be recluses, are called.

The charge has even been made that the piety commended by the Imitation is of a selfish monkish type. It was written by a monk and intended for the convent; it lays stress on the passive qualities and does not touch with firmness the string of active service in the world. That which makes it acceptable to all Christians is the supreme stress it lays upon Christ and the possibility of immediate communion with him and God.

The primary Protestant complaints about the book are with regard to what they might call "medieval mistakes" or superstitions: the merit of good works and transubstantiation (IV:2 - i.e., volume IV, chapter 2), purgatory (IV:9), and the honoring of saints (I:13, II:9, III:6, III:59). These aspects of Kempis's writings, however, are in full conformity with the Catholic faith that he practiced and with the Catholic faith today. Transubstantiation is the belief held by many Christian denominations that the Eucharistic elements of bread and wine are changed into the body and blood of Jesus during Consecration. ... Jump to: navigation, search The term purgatory is best defined as the means by which the elect reach perfection before entering into the Kingdom of Heaven Many different theories on how purgatory takes place have been discussed in the past. ... Jump to: navigation, search In general, the term Saint refers to someone who is exceptionally virtuous and holy. ...

External link

• Project Gutenberg e-text of The Imitation of Christ
• The Imitation of Christ at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library