Read more
The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis is the most widely read Christian devotional book next to the Bible. It was written in Latin five hundred years ago and now brings comfort to millions of readers in over fifty languages. The Imitation is based on meditations on the life and teachings of Jesus, and emphasises the interior life and the centrality of the Eucharist rather than an active imitation of Christ. This version has an index of Biblical references, an index of names and an index of subjects.
"Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be." Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ
About the author
Thomas à Kempis (c. 1380 - 25 July 1471) was a German-Dutch canon regular of the late medieval period and the author of The Imitation of Christ, one of the most popular and best known Christian devotional books. He was a member of the Modern Devotion, a spiritual movement during the late medieval period, and a follower of Geert Groote and Florens Radewyns, the founders of the Brethren of the Common Life.
Thomas spent his time between devotional exercises in writing and in copying manuscripts. He copied the Bible no fewer than four times, one of the copies being preserved at Darmstadt, Germany, in five volumes. In its teachings he was widely read and his works abound with biblical quotations, especially from the New Testament. As subprior he was charged with instructing novices, and in that capacity wrote four booklets between 1420 and 1427, later collected and named after the title of the first chapter of the first booklet: The Imitation of Christ. Thomas More said it was one of the three books everybody ought to own. Thirteen translations of the Imitatio Christi and three paraphrases in English seem to have been published between 1500 and 1700. Thomas died near Zwolle in 1471.
