Only the Bible has been more influential as a source of Christian devotional reading than The Imitation of Christ. This meditation on the spiritual life has inspired readers from Thomas More and St. Ignatius Loyola to Thomas Merton and Pope John Paul I. Written by the Augustine monk Thomas a Kempis between 1420 and 1427, it contains clear instructions for renouncing worldly vanities and locating eternal truths. No book has more explicitly and movingly described the Christian ideal: "My son, to the degree that you can leave yourself behind, to that degree will you be able to enter into Me."

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Date:January 2, 2006

P. Chase Sears

The Imitation of Christ, a Christian classic, was written between 1420 and 1427 by an Augustinian monk named Thomas Kempis. This book is actually four books combined into one, and is written in a devotional like style. Each chapter of each book deals with a different topic, pushing the reader to examine his or herself in light of the instruction given. The first two books deal with a persons view of the world and his or her personal humility and integrity. The following two books are set up in a unique way in that they are laid out in dialog format. The two books are written simulating conversations between Jesus and a struggling Christian, known in the book as "the disciple." When reading this book, two over arching themes are dominate, asceticism and Roman Catholicism.

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