Imitation of Christ

Written in the early fifteenth century for members of a religious community, The Imitation of Christ has remained one of the most widely read works of Christian devotional literature. Thomas a Kempis arranged the text in four books of short chapters, moving from counsel on the interior life towards reflections on the sacrament, and the sentences are deliberately plain so that they can be read slowly, a paragraph at a time. The work belongs to the devotio moderna tradition, which placed humility, self-examination and quiet practice above scholastic argument. That structure suits daily reading as readily as continuous study. This edition covers: • Four books of brief chapters that can be taken in short daily portions • Counsel on humility, patience and the examination of one's own motives • Plain, unornamented prose that has carried well across translations • A devotional classic of the late medieval Church, still in print six centuries on Read by Christians of many traditions, students of medieval literature and readers interested in devotional writing, available from Boipoka.