Customer Reviews

The Imitation of Christ (Image Classic)

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The Imitation of Christ is, after the Bible, the most widely-read Christian book in history, and deservedly so. It is a treasure-chest of Christian wisdom and truth. I picked it up after reading a book on the 17th-century French missionaries to the New World. Among the meager possessions they took with them into the wilderness were two books - the Bible and the Imitation. I considered that to be a fairly compelling recommendation, and I was not disappointed.

Thomas a Kempis, in the Imitation, gives us wisdom for living the Christian life that is extremely challenging. More than once as I read through it, I found myself squirming in my seat as Thomas brought the truth to bear, uncomfortably close to where I live. A few brief samples:

"It is a hard thing to leave evil customs and it is harder to break our own will, but it is most hard forever to lie in pain and forever to lose the joys of heaven." (bk. 1, ch. 11)

"If you had a good conscience, you would not fear death so much, and it would be better for you to abandon sin than to fear death." (bk. 1, ch. 23)

"[H]e is not truly patient who will suffer only as much as he pleases, or from whom he pleases." (bk. 3, ch. 19)

"All is not lost, though some things happen contrary to your will." (bk. 3, ch. 30)

We have here the mind and heart of a wise old monk, who has struggled through to "the peaceable fruit of righteousness". He has no illusions about his own (or his readers') human nature; he knows how difficult is the challenge of living a Christian life. And yet, he also knows something of the rewards for whatever success he has had at it. Above all, he has learned humility, and the challenge of his experience can help us follow in the way of Christ. The Imitation struck me as a kind of medieval Christian Book of Proverbs, and it affected me similarly.

I will leave the reader with one more quote to show something of the character of this wonderful little book:

"Do not let [another] speak to me, therefore, but you, my Lord Jesus, ... lest perhaps I die and be made like a man without fruit, warmed from without, but not inflamed within, and so receive the harder judgment, because I have heard your word and not done it, known it and not loved it, believed it and not fulfilled it." (bk. 3, ch. 2)

I first heard of this book while reading the memoirs of Saint Therese of Lisieux, who referred to it often. This book has become such a special tool in developing my spirituality and bringing me closer to the Lord. Rather than reading it cover to cover, I like the method of just opening it at random when I need some fresh inspiration to follow. As a Christian, imitating Christ is the essence of my life, and this book helps me to improve at it a little more each day.

How does one describe a book like this? Beside it, other works are like candles beside the glow of the moon. Reading a passage a day will assuredly change your life. The contents of this book contain principles, ideas, and views so great that if every one on earth were to read it, the world would be a different place indeed. When people study the 'Imitation,' they become in tune with what is really important in life - our mortal lives are temporary. Everything we do, every word we say, every motive behind our acts, should be geared toward our lives after death. While the 'Imitation' may seem too ascetic for modern readers, it must be remembered that Thomas Kempis first wrote this book for monks. Nevertheless, each word is music; every passage is a profound truth, and a daily reading of this great tome will make you understand every aspect of human existence.

The author has a spirit of humility that permeates the entire work. He is a man of God indeed. What a legacy we have in this truly inspiring book! This is the kind of reading that will transform your life for the better.

Nuggets of truth are found throughout the whole book. The insight he shares is for any culture, any place, and all generations. His closing comments give a flavor of what one can find: "If the works of God were such that they could easily be comprehended by human reason, they would not rightly be called either wonderful or unspeakable."

This 500 year old book is so much more relevant today than a lot of what is being turned out on the press now. It helps you to put things into proper perspective.

I have seen several editions of this ancient classic (ca. AD 1440). The exact one I read (New Kensington, Pennsylvania: Whitaker House, 1981) does not seem to be currently available on Amazon. This Image Classic is a very similar translation to the one I read. This form is somewhat old, in the early 20th Century, but it is much more like our language now, so can be understood and assimilated without effort.

I noticed that the Moody edition and some others are a reprint of a much older translation, still using confusing and stodgy Elizabethan phrasing, verbs and vocabulary, which makes for halting and laborious reading for most people. Even for me and those who grew up reading that style of Bible, the language form gets in the way and limits concentration on the meaning.

Most people in this generation are unfamiliar with Mystical thought, and Medieval thought in general. It is helpful to have this more genial introduction to A Kempis' classic.

This is a classic of Christian Contemplation for the Middle Ages. Thomas "A Kempis" was born Thomas Haemerken in 1379 or 1380, in the German town of Kempen. His name as commonly passed down is based on the Latin-French version of the name of his birthplace, meaning "Thomas from Kempen."

À Kempis was a mystic, who served a monk and priest in the Netherlands and Germany. This is one of the best-loved classics of Christian literature. Just as in the edition I read, no information was provided in this edition of the book about the author or his times and situations.

The publisher's jacket notes that this book has been translated into more languages than any other book except the Bible. But no information is given in this publication about the translator or the translation. Perhaps this translation is so old that it is in the public domain. Perhaps the translator is also unknown now.

This book provides a unique insight in to the mystical age of the 1400s, when the world was still seen in terms of a dynamic spirit-filled world, and the powers of evil were sensed as a real part of the forces of nature. His writing and devotional approach further express a great concern for personal life holiness, not just a "spiritual" sense of awareness of God.

In addition, A Kempis and others called "mystics" were concerned with the spiritual union of the believer with Christ in a sense of merged identity, an ecstatic dimension often left out in the modern rationalist, empirical era. It seems to me, however, that A Kempis has more of a practical life orientation and service concept of union with Christ than, for instance, John of the Cross, who was concerned with losing himself into the identity of God as an escape form the captivity of this world and the body, with its temporal, material concerns and distractions from what was considered "higher" and more "spiritual."

Every person serious about understanding the variety of Western Christian thought and experience needs to be aware of A Kempis, and perhaps John of the Cross, to have a full appreciation for the variation of approach. Today we see too much radical rejection of all varieties too unlike that preferred by fundamentalist, rationalistic orientation to faith as objective propositional knowledge.

A Kempis, among others, helps us realize that the basic stream of Christian faith has been concerned with truth as the experience of deep relationship of Love and spiritual Union with God. The mind is involved, but the will and attitude seem much more central to the New Testament, the various Theologies of mystical and practical Love, and A Kempis' challenge to implement Love as a Holiness of life that brings God to reality in your daily encounters with the mass of humanity needing a touch of Grace!

It came as advertised. It came rapidly. The only complaint I have is that I ordered a hardcover and received a paperback.