Thomas à Kempis. The Imitation of Christ. Translated by William Benham, Project Gutenberg, Feb. 1999.

The Imitation of Christ is one of those classics that I finally got around to reading. Because of its provenance in the fifteenth century and its popularity among Catholics, it is sometimes said to be the second most widely read book in history next to the Bible. I have also read the same claim about Pilgrim’s Progress and Don Quixote. At any rate, it is up there.

Kempis was a monk, so there is a meditative flavor to the book, but I have known of many Protestants who have read it with blessing. Nearly all of what the book has to say applies to all Christ followers regardless of church affiliation.

The theme of The Imitation of Christ could be summed up in the following verses from the Bible:

Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. (I Peter 5:5-9)

Most of the book is dedicated to a single idea: humility. Much of it has to do with self-examination. How sinful are we? How undeserving of God’s salvation?

Much of it is a warning about what the verse in Peter above calls “the world.” Resist temptation. Alas, many times we do not. This ties in with the humility because things we see and experience in this present world and present age do not last. As we say today, you can’t take it with you.

A number of years ago, we reviewed The Good Soldier. At one level it was a comparison and contrast between Protestantism and Catholicism. The main Protestant character suffered from heart problems, the main Catholic from mental health. What Ford in the novel was noting was simply that Protestants tend to look at their faith intellectually. If there is problem with them, it is a “heart problem”; they do not feel or experience the love of God. Catholics’ “mental illness,” is that they tend to look at faith emotionally and do not think about it as much.

The Imitation of Christ in that respect is very emotional. How do you feel? Don’t you feel guilty? Aren’t you humbled? Why are you attracted to things that are not going to last? In that sense, this book is a real gut check.

The format is something like a devotional book. Each chapter, perhaps each paragraph, could be read as a daily devotion to meditate upon. Its style is similar to that of one of the Biblical wisdom books such as Proverbs or Ecclesiastes. However, it is less practical or pragmatic than many of the Proverbs, because it turns the reader inward.

There are a few caveats. One of the rediscoveries of the Reformation was the righteousness of God. The Bible tells us that the believer is righteous, not because of his behavior but because of the work of Christ on the Cross and God’s free gift of salvation.

For he [God] hath made him [Jesus] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (II Corinthians 5:21, cf. Romans 4:3 and Genesis 15:6)

If we look at The Imitation of Christ on the emotional level, there appears to be a lack of relief. Jesus saves! We do not have to struggle for our salvation.

On the other hand, The Imitation of Christ nails it in another sense: The walk with Christ can be difficult. Kempis not only warns about different “worldly” temptations that most people understand are sinful and transient, but notes another serious temptation. Many times we are tempted to be silent about Jesus or to deny him. There are pressures in the world that look down on serious believers and try to get them off track and even persecute them. Even from the safety of his monastery, Kempis recognizes these things. He notes that not everyone has a calling to a religious ministry, for example.

Kempis speaks of “the uses of adversity.” Hard times can draw us closer to God. Shakespeare echoed this sentiment in As You Like It: “Sweet are the uses of adversity” (2.1.12). Similarly, like Shakespeare’s Duke quoted here, Pilgrim’s Progress echoes Kempis when it describes the Flatterer, “Grant me prudently to avoid the flatterer…for thus we go prudently on the way we have begun” (2.27.5).

This reviewer was struck by the number of times the author’s reminds us of his conversion. He assumes if the reader is interested in imitating Christ, he has had a conversion also. This sounds very evangelical and not sacramental at all. But if the translator’s preface is correct and Kempis was an Augustinian monk, that makes sense. Augustine, a saint in the Catholic Church, wrote his Confessions, which focus on his conversion to Christianity. Perhaps it is no coincidence that Luther was also an Augustinian. As Jesus said, “Ye must be born again” (John 3:7).

The last few sections focus on Communion. Here not only do we read about the Catholic doctrine of the priesthood, but meditations on Communion itself. As is even today a Catholic distinctive, the book elevates the Sacrament above the Bible (4.11.3). However, in another place he places them equally (4.11.5). Historically, the early reformer Wycliffe got in hot water because he taught that the priest’s job of teaching the Word was more important than sharing the sacraments.

At times I was reading this, I was asking myself, “How many different ways can a person be humble?” But other times I was inspired. Yes, we should draw close to God. We should seek Him. Even meditating on Jesus’ work on the Cross makes Communion more meaningful. Jill Shannon believes that Jesus is present at the Passover celebration even if the celebrants do not recognize Him. Perhaps, then, He is present in Communion as well, whether or not transubstantiation is involved.

That verse from Peter quoted earlier says “humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God.” James 4:10 tells us. “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” If we really put ourselves in the sight of God, we see Him as He is (at least a little bit) and that is very humbling. To paraphrase The Lion King, He is God and we’re not. The Imitation of Christ helps us put things in that perspective.

N.B. This free version from Gutenberg is an older translation. It seems to be deliberately done to imitate the King James or Douay Bibles. It is not difficult, but get used to the -th rather than -s at the end of verbs. There probably are more modern translations available.