Thomas a' Kempis Books

The Imitation of Christ (Dover Thrift Editions)

Thomas à Kempis

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

All Jesus 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

This book changed me. It taught me to stay away from anything that will hinder my faith and to follow Jesus with all my heart and soul and mind. Even though I'm still in the process of reading it, it changes me every day. Thomas A Kempis is the most devoted person I have encountered and I pray that many more people will be changed by this inspirational book. It taught me to be all about Jesus and about nothing else.

meditative 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I really enjoyed this book. It is fabulous to see how filled with the Spirit of God Thomas was back in the 14th Century. I would recommend this book for anyone who is truly serious about serving Christ and becoming like Him.

Editorial Review:

This classic, second only to the Bible for religious instruction and inspiration, has brought understanding and comfort to millions for centuries. Written in a candid and conversational style, the topics include liberation from worldly inclinations, preparation and consolations of prayer, and the place of eucharistic communion in a devout life.

The Imitation Of Christ (Hendrickson Christian Classics)

Thomas a Kempis

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A Catholic book with a Protestant veneer from the publisher 2 out of 5 stars.
5 of 12 people found this review helpful.

"The Imitation of Christ" will raise you up through humility and, if you let it, conform you more closely to Christ in love and self-denial. This is a nicely-bound edition, and affordable, which is why I purchased it. To my surpise, however, the publisher, Hendrickson Christian Classics, had inserted a fairly blatantly Protestant preface before the actual text of the holy work by Thomas a Kempis. They should know that if it is indeed a classic, the text should be allowed to speak for itself.

The two-star rating, therefore, is due not to the value of "The Imitation of Christ" per se, but due to the imperfection of this edition because of the publisher.

I did not read the whole of the actual work, but the parts of the translation I did read don't seem to water down Thomas's wisdom for a so-called "contemporary" audience. (That is only a cursory impression, however.) So, if you are Protestant and don't mind someone asking you to read a work through the lens they provide, this edition is probably a good choice. Be warned, however, that the faith described in the "Imitation of Christ" is the Catholic faith - so be ready to convert. I am a convert myself; we will welcome you with open arms. God bless you.

The Imitation of Christ (Vintage Spiritual Classics)

Thomas a Kempis

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 72 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The treasure 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Why claim trinkets when you can read one of the best devotionals on the market. I use it to keep my daily life in check, to remember to have the right focus and to live what I believe. This is the top of the charts for a "Christian" work. Brother A'Kempis was a great instructor and a wise disciple. So much of todays mediocre fluff is twisted by society, self centeredness and lazy Christianity where the thinking is done for those who don't see the value in meditation and self examination. Next to the Bible, this is my favorite work.

Editorial Review:

The Thomas à Kempis fan club includes St. Ignatius, Thomas Merton, Thomas More, and even Agatha Christie's Miss Marple. (She reads a chapter of The Imitation of Christ every night before sleep.) Imitation has exerted immense influence on Christian worship, ethics, and church structure, because it gives specific yet broad-minded guidance about the central task of Christian life--learning to live like Jesus. Better to read this book a little here and there, now and then, than to try gobbling it cover to cover. Imitation is no triumph of orderly thinking, but it's a great monument and incentive to deep living. --Michael Joseph Gross

The Imitation Of Christ

Thomas A. Kempis

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Second Only to The Bible 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 8 people found this review helpful.

It is true that this book is second only to the Bible in terms of readership but also in inspiration. And it may seem that contemporary English versions (and they are available) would be more relevant and easier to read than this "old fashioned" way of speaking and writing, with the "thou"s and "thou wilt"s. But this way of writing is actually more conducive to capturing the original flavor of what the original must have been like. Written in the 1400s by Thomas Kempis, it was written by a monk FOR MONKS, as a kind of handbook. But nowadays its relevance is for all of us. I recommend this particular translation much much more than the contemporary English versions. This one takes the text to a higher level, in my opinion.

Editorial Review:

With the exception of the Bible, no Christian writing has had so wide a vogue or so sustained a popularity as this. And yet, in one sense, it is hardly an original work at all. Its structure it owes largely to the writings of the medieval mystics, and its ideas and phrases are a mosaic from the Bible and the Fathers of the early Church. But these elements are interwoven with such delicate skill and a religious feeling at once so ardent and so sound, that it promises to remain, what it has been for five hundred years, the supreme call and guide to spiritual aspiration. The treatise "Of the Imitation of Christ" appears to have been originally written in Latin early in the fifteenth century. Its exact date and its authorship are still a matter of debate. Manuscripts of the Latin version survive in considerable numbers all over Western Europe, and they, with the vast list of translations and of printed editions, testify to its almost unparalleled popularity.

The Inner Life (Penguin Great Ideas)

Thomas a Kempis

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Instruction on how to know God. 5 out of 5 stars.
19 of 19 people found this review helpful.

To characterize this book as a "literary classic" ignores the fact that it was never intended to be read as great literature. Rather, it was written for the sole purpose of offering simple instruction to cloistered monks on how to know God, and as such, the spiritual wisdom contained here will surely cause any reader to pause in quiet contemplation of his or her own life in relation to God. "It is vanity to wish for long life, if you care little for a good life" (p. 2). "A true understanding and humble estimate of oneself is the highest and most valuable of all lessons" (p. 3). "It is good for us to encounter troubles and adversities from time to time, for trouble often compels a man to search his own heart" (p.12). "Today a man is here; tomorrow he is gone. And when he is out of sight, he is soon out of mind . . . You should order your every deed and thought, as though today were the day of your death . . . Foolish man, how can you promise yourself a long life, when you are not certain of a single day" (pp. 18-21). "Keep yourself a stranger and pilgrim upon earth, to whom the affairs of this world are of no concern" (p. 22).

Best known for THE IMITATION OF CHRIST, Thomas a Kempis (1380-1471) was a medieval Augustinian monk and a mystic, educated by the Brethren of the Common Life, and influenced by Geert Groote. He spent his quiet life in cloistered devotion to God, reading and writing, and copying the Bible. His writings (including tracts, meditations, letters, sermons, a life of Saint Lydewigis, and several biographies) reflect his humble nature and total adoration of Christ. He encourages his reader to "read with humility, simplicity, and faith, and seek not at any time the fame of being learned." It's easy to guess what his reaction would be if Thomas a Kempis knew that his book is now being read by the modern reader as an experience ib "classic" literature.

As a meditation on the spiritual life, this book offers guidance on renouncing worldly vanities and materialism, and living more like Christ, the singular goal of Christian life. "Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity, except to love God and serve Him alone," Thomas a Kempis writes; "and this is supreme wisdom--to despise the world, and draw daily nearer the kingdom of heaven" (p. 2). As Job discovered, man's life on earth is little more than spiritual warfare (p. 13). While this book will appeal to anyone interested in what it means to live a meaningful life, it was clearly written with a cloistered Christian audience in mind. (It should be noted that this review refers to the 2005 Penguin Great Ideas edition of THE INNER LIFE, which is an excerpt from the 1952 Leo Sherly-Price translation of THE IMITATION OF CHRIST.)

G. Merritt

On the Passion of Christ: According to the Four Evangelists : Prayers and Meditations

Thomas a Kempis

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Truly Excellent 5 out of 5 stars.
21 of 21 people found this review helpful.

If you like "The Imitation of Christ" you will love this book. Thirty-five chapters, only a page or two each, examining in a prayerful way each step of Jesus' Passion. Five stars does not do this book justice. My husband and I are each reading a chapter a day for Lent and it is one of the most inspirational books we have ever read. The translation is at once clear and devout. My highest personal recommendation for this book.

Editorial Review:

In his famous spiritual classic, "The Imitation of Christ", Thomas à Kempis reminds the reader that in order to become a follower of Christ one must imitate his life, and to accomplish this he adds: "Let it then be our main concern to meditate on the life of Jesus Christ. It is impossible to imitate Christ without first knowing him, and the best way of getting to know him is by meditating on his life as it is described in the four Gospels."

Thus, in this wonderful meditation book, perfect for Lent, or any time of the year, the great spiritual writer and monk presents profound, short reflections on Gospel passages about the passion and death of Christ. Each chapter, focusing on a specific aspect of the Passion of Our Lord, gives a prayer, a meditation and spiritual advice and closes with another short prayer.

Very much in the same style as his "The Imitation of Christ," this book covers the entire Passion, and makes great spiritual reading for anyone. Illustrated.

The Imitation of Christ: Illustrated With Illuminated Manuscripts

Thomas a Kempis

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Breathtaking! 5 out of 5 stars.
13 of 14 people found this review helpful.

What a magnificent presentation of a magnificent book. The text here is the Challoner 1737 translation (the Douay Bible translation was Challoner's also) which is so beautiful and devotional and which fits perfectly with the incredible art on each page. This is not a large coffee-table-type book; it is meant to be used, to be prayed with, and even to be taken into church to read before the Blessed Sacrament.

Breathtaking...magnificent...beautiful...devotional: Ignatius Press has truly outdone themselves here. Don't miss out on this version of the "Imitation of Christ."

Editorial Review:

The Imitation of Christ has enjoyed greater popularity down the centuries than any Christian book apart from the Bible. Even today, the soul-searching words of the fifteenth-century monk, Thomas á Kempis, continue to resonate, unbounded by time or geography. Drawing on the Bible, the Fathers of the early Church and medieval mysticism, his four-part treatise shrugs off the allure of the material world, blending beauty and bluntness in a supremely spiritual call to arms.

For this illustrated anthology, 40 memorable passages have been selected. Each excerpt is accompanied by exquisite art from one of the British Library’s finest illuminated manuscripts, including the Sherborne Missal, the Luttrell Psalter and the Bedford Hours. The result is a book to fire and inspire all who delight in the remarkable writings of Thomas á Kempis. Illustrated.

Imitation of Mary

a Kempis Thomas

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A must-have companion to "The Imitation of Christ" 5 out of 5 stars.
16 of 18 people found this review helpful.

Anyone who has read "The Imitation of Christ" by Thomas A. Kempis may be left wondering if this Catholic brother had any devotion to Mary. The Imitation of Mary is a resounding "Yes!". Here, Thomas shows his deep insight into the prerogatives, graces and glory of Mary. Writing about the "Grandeurs and Glories of Mary", Thomas exclaims, "O Mary, greater than the heavens, you have the world under your feet and you are seated close to God, on the throne of honor which Jesus gave you." Here, Thomas shows his deep insigt into scriptures, for Mary as "Mother of the Lord" is the new Queen-Mother and just as Solomon who points towards Christ, "stood up to meet her [his mother] and paid her homage. Then he sat down upon his throne, and a throne was provided for the king's mother, who sat at his right." (2 Kings, 2:19) so does Jesus seats his mother at his right hand side. Elsewhere, Thomas writes saying that "by testimony of the Holy Scripture Mary was from all time, and will be always, the holiest virgin among all virgins, the most beatiful women among all women, the sweetest mother among all mothers." The Imitation of Mary is a wonderful introduction to true devotion to Mary. Read it prayerfully, read it slowly and above all read it meditatively to enter into the Mystery of Christ and his love for his mother. Thomas is, once more, a sure guide leading you along a sound and faithful path to Mary and with Mary to Jesus.

The Imitation of Christ (Mystics)

Kempis, Thomas A.

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Editorial Review:

Book Description:

"The Imitation of Christ (or De imitatione Christi), by Thomas à Kempis, is a widely read Christian spiritual book. It was first published anonymously, in Latin, ca. 1418; several other authors have been proposed, but Kempis' authorship is now generally accepted.

Imitation of Christ is a writing of the mystical German-Dutch school of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and is widely considered one of the greatest manuals of devotion in Christianity. Protestants and Roman Catholics alike join in giving it praise. The Jesuits give it an official place among their "exercises". John Wesley and John Newton listed it among the works that influenced them at their conversion. General Gordon carried it with him to the battlefield.

The number of counted editions exceeds 2000; 1000 different editions are preserved in the British Museum. The Bullingen collection, donated to the city of Cologne in 1838, contained at the time 400 different editions. De Backer (Essai, ut inf.) enumerates 545 Latin and about 900 French editions.

The book was written in Latin. A manuscript from 1441 survives and there is a French translation from 1447. The first printed edition, it is a catalan edition from 1482 (Barcelona, Pere Posa), translated into Catalan by Miquel Peres. The first printed French copies appeared at Toulouse in 1488. The earliest German translation was made in 1434 by J. de Bellorivo and is preserved in Cologne. The editions in German began at Augsburg in 1486. The first English translation (1502) was by William Atkinson and Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII, who did the fourth book. Translations appeared in Italian (Venice, 1488; Milan 1489), Spanish (Seville, 1536), Arabic (Rome, 1663), Armenian (Rome, 1674), Hebrew (Frankfort, 1837), and other languages. Pierre Corneille produced a poetical paraphrase in French in 1651.

The Imitation of Christ derives its title from the heading of the first of four books, De imitatione Christi et contemptu omnium vanitatum mundi. It seems to have been written in meter and rhyme, a fact discovered by K. Hirsche in 1874. The four books are not found in all the manuscripts, nor are they arranged invariably in the same order.

The work is a manual of devotion intended to assist the soul with its pursuit of holiness and communion with God. Its sentences are statements, not arguments, and are pitched in the highest key of Christian experience. It was meant for monastics and ascetics. Behind and within all its reflections runs the counsel of self-renunciation.

The life of Christ is presented as the highest study possible to a mortal, as Jesus' teachings far excel all the teachings of the saints. The book gives counsel to read the scriptures, statements about the uses of adversity, advice for submission to authority, warnings against temptation and how to resist it, reflections about death and the judgment, meditations upon the oblation of Christ, and admonitions to flee the vanities of the world.

It was written by a monk and intended for the convent. It lays stress on the passive qualities and does not advocate active service in the world. What makes it acceptable to most Christians is the supreme emphasis it lays upon Christ and the possibility of immediate communion with him and God." (Quote from wikipedia.org)

Table of Contents:

Publisher's Preface; Introductory Note; First Book; Of The Imitation Of Christ, And Of Contempt Of The World And All Its Vanities; Of Thinking Humbly Of Oneself; Of The Knowledge Of Truth; Of Prudence In Action; Of The Reading Of Holy Scriptures; Of Inordinate Affections; Of Fleeing From Vain Hope And Pride; Of The Danger Of Too Much Familiarity; Of Obedience And Subjection; Of The Danger Of Superfluity Of Words; Of Seeking Peace Of Mind And Of Spiritual Progress; Of The Uses Of Adversity; Of Resisting Temptation; On Avoiding Rash Judgment; Of Works Of Charity; Of Bea

The Imitation of Christ, Leather Gift Edition

Thomas A. Kempis

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Editorial Review:

This edition has been freshly re-typeset from an older, traditional edition and printed on high quality, acid-free paper. The cover is bound in genuine, highly-durable, Moroccan leather with beautiful ornamental gold blocking on the front and the spine.

Translated from the original Latin by the Right Rev. Richard Challoner, D.D.

The most popular religious book - after the Bible - ever written, is presented here in its best known English translation: that of the Venerable Richard Challoner (1691 - 1781), Vicar Apostolic of the London district in penal times, and perhaps the greatest English Catholic figure of the eighteenth century.

A work of spiritual devotion - its purpose is to instruct the soul in Christian perfection with Christ as the Divine Model. It consists of a series of counsels of perfection written in a familiar and even colloquial style, and is divided into four parts/books:

1. Useful Admonitions for a Spiritual Life
2. Admonitions Concerning Interior Things
3. Of Internal Consolation
4. Of the Blessed Sacrament

Size - 4" x 6". Hardbound (dark-brown real leather) with silk ribbon marker.