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Classics

The Imitation of Christ

Thomas à Kempis

Short meditations on humility, prayer, and following Christ. This late medieval devotional work turns attention from outward recognition toward the inner life.

Benham translation

Translated by William Benham

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First published 1886.

Public domain.

About this book

The Imitation of Christ is a collection of short meditations on humility, inward prayer, and the ordering of life toward Christ. Its four books move from practical counsel through the inner life and spiritual consolation to devotion to the Eucharist. The voice sometimes advises the reader and sometimes takes the form of a conversation between Christ and the soul. Across those forms, the work returns to the limits of outward achievement, the desire for recognition, and the difference between knowing religious language and learning to live what it expresses.

The Imitation offers an intimate view of late medieval devotion, with searching questions about pride, ambition, and the desire for approval that reach beyond its monastic setting. Its influence comes partly from how easily a short chapter can become material for reflection, even for readers who do not share every aspect of its monastic and sacramental outlook. Read slowly enough to hear the movement from a general claim to an uncomfortable personal question. The repeated themes are intended to train attention over time. Keeping the Eucharistic fourth book in view also helps readers recognize the complete work's Catholic setting instead of reducing it to a collection of detached sayings.

Author & background

Thomas à Kempis (c. 1380–1471) was a religious brother and copyist associated with the Devotio Moderna, a movement that emphasized practical devotion and the formation of Christian character. The Imitation is traditionally attributed to him and reflects a life shaped by Scripture, worship, and religious community. Its advice about silence, obedience, and humility makes sense within that setting, even as later readers have adapted it to other circumstances. The work's quiet attention to daily discipline contrasts with the public theological disputes represented elsewhere in the Library.

Introduction

From the published edition.

  1. Introductory Note

Contents

Choose a section to begin reading.

  1. The First Book Admonitions Profitable for the Spiritual Life
  2. The Second Book Admonitions Concerning the Inner Life
  3. The Third Book on Inward Consolation
  4. The Fourth Book of the Sacrament of the Altar