A late-medieval devotional manual composed in Latin in the early 15th century and traditionally attributed to Thomas à Kempis, a canon regular of the Brethren of the Common Life in the Low Countries. Four books of short chapters teach a programme of inward Christianity centred on humility, contempt of the world, the consolations of grace and the Eucharist.
The prose is plain, aphoristic, and structured as direct address — the voice of Christ speaking to the soul, the soul replying.
Vanity of vanities and all is vanity, except to love God and serve Him alone.
p. Book I, Chapter 1 · Book I — Helpful Counsels of the Spiritual Life
First lines
"He who follows Me, walks not in darkness," says the Lord. By these words of Christ we are advised to imitate His life and habits, if we wish to be truly enlightened and free from all blindness of heart. Let our chief effort, therefore, be to study the life of Jesus Christ.
Contents
Book One: Helpful Counsels of the Spiritual Life
Book Two: Directives for the Interior Life
Book Three: On Interior Consolation
Book Four: On the Blessed Sacrament
Reception
After the Bible, the most widely circulated Christian devotional in history — translated into virtually every language with a Christian readership, never out of print, carried by figures as different as Thomas More, Ignatius of Loyola, John Wesley, and Thomas Merton. Ignatius drew explicitly on it in the Spiritual Exercises; Wesley abridged and republished it; the Catholic and Protestant reformers alike claimed it. Modern scholarship (Van Engen, Post) has placed it within the Devotio Moderna movement of the late medieval Low Countries. Critics in the Reformed tradition have flagged its monastic-spiritual bias and quietist ethic; none of that has touched its standing as the most-read post-biblical Christian book.
Frequently asked
What is The Imitation of Christ about?
It is a programme of inward Christianity structured around four books: advice for the spiritual life, directives for the interior life, consolations from the voice of Christ speaking directly to the soul, and instruction on the Eucharist. The governing theme is contempt of the world and humility before God.
Who wrote The Imitation of Christ and when?
The work is traditionally attributed to Thomas à Kempis, a canon regular of the Brethren of the Common Life in the Low Countries, and composed in Latin around 1418–1427. Kempis was born near Kempen in present-day Germany and spent most of his life at the monastery of Mount St. Agnes in the diocese of Utrecht.
Why has The Imitation of Christ been so widely read?
After the Bible it is the most widely circulated Christian devotional in history, carried by figures as different as Thomas More, Ignatius of Loyola, John Wesley, and Thomas Merton. Its plain, aphoristic prose and its direct-address structure — Christ speaking to the soul — have made it accessible across Catholic and Protestant traditions for six centuries.