Reset Password
Reset Link Sent
| Blogs > vizions007 > Pursuit of God Jer 29:13 |
|
Imitation of Christ - Thomas Kempis - Ref Top 15 (+1) Christian Books 2. Imitation of Christ - Thomas Kempis Most Christians have never heard of this book and yet, The Imitation of Christ is perhaps the most widely read devotional work next to the Bible, and is regarded as a devotional and religious classic. Apart from the Bible, no book has been translated into more languages than the Imitation of Christ. The ideal of the imitation of Christ has been an important element of Christian theology, ethics and spirituality. References to this concept and its practice are found in the earliest Christian documents, e.g. the Pauline Epistles. Saint Augustine viewed the imitation of Christ as the fundamental purpose of Christian life, and as a remedy for the imitation of the sins of Adam. Saint Francis of Assisi believed in the physical as well as the spiritual imitation of Christ, and advocated a path of poverty and preaching like Jesus who was poor at birth in the manger and died naked on the cross. The theme of imitation of Christ existed in all phases of Byzantine theology, and in the 14th century book Life in Christ Nicholas Cabasilas viewed "living one's own personal life" in Christ as the fundamental Christian virtue. The book was written anonymously in Latin in the Netherlands ca. 1418-1427 and Thomas à Kempis is generally accepted as the author. Several sources of authority, including members of his own order, name Kempis as the author, and various contemporary manuscripts, including one autograph codex, bear his name. John Wesley and John Newton, the founders of the Methodist Movement, listed The Imitation among the works that influenced them at their conversion. The purpose of the law is to help us realize how fallen we are - the sinful nature of our unregenerate heart. To be repentant, to be sorry for our sins. Most people are not wanting a savior that convicts them of sin no, everyone, wants a savior to save them from hell, a place that evokes images of pain and suffering. Who would not want to be saved from that? This is what most people hear in the pulpit on Sunday, choose Christ so that you will not go to Hell. But what we need is to realize our sinful nature and seek Christ to save us from ourselves, to desire to hate sin, to turn away from sin. The Imitation of Christ will go a long way to get you to realize your sinful nature and desire a God, that only He has the ability to save us. The bible first and foremost, but this book is definitely high on the list. |
|||
|
St Augustine died in 430 AD. This book wasn't written until sometime between 1418 and 1427. I guess I'm confused how St Augustine thought so highly of a book that wouldn't be written until nearly a thousand years after he died? GBU, Gavin
|
×
×