The Imitation of Christ
A Medieval Manual of Humility, Self-Knowledge, Prayer, and Interior DevotionBy Thomas à Kempis
Length6h 50m
About this audiobook
Thomas à Kempis's *The Imitation of Christ* is a classic of late medieval Christian devotion, organized as four books of counsels, meditations, and prayers addressed to the soul seeking union with Christ. Rejecting worldly vanity and intellectual pride, it emphasizes humility, self-denial, obedience, inward recollection, patience amid suffering, and loving participation in the Eucharist. Its Latin prose is aphoristic, intimate, and deliberately accessible: brief exhortations and scriptural echoes create the effect of a spiritual director speaking directly to the reader. The work belongs to the tradition of the *Devotio Moderna*, whose practitioners cultivated disciplined interior prayer over ostentatious scholastic debate, while its enduring appeal derives from the psychological precision and lyrical sobriety with which it renders the struggle for holiness. Thomas à Kempis (c. 1380–1471), a German-Dutch Augustinian canon and influential member of the Brethren of the Common Life, lived within precisely this culture of communal discipline, manuscript reading, and practical piety. His years at the monastery of Mount Saint Agnes, where he copied religious texts and guided novices, informed the book's pastoral tone and its concern with ordinary, repeatable acts of devotion. Though authorship was debated historically, Thomas remains its traditional and most widely accepted attribution. Readers interested in Christian spirituality, medieval religious culture, or the history of devotional literature will find *The Imitation of Christ* both historically revealing and personally demanding. Its compact chapters reward slow reading, inviting reflection rather than mere analysis, and its questions about desire, distraction, mortality, and integrity remain remarkably immediate.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 4.3 (39.4K)
Includes Goodreads, Amazon, StoryGraph, LibraryThing
GenreSpirituality and Religion
Length6 hrs 50 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateNov 14, 2021
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1A Treatise on Christian Liberty (Annotated)
2Introduction
3The First Book - Admonitions Profitable for the Spiritual Life
4Chapter I - Of the imitation of Christ, and of contempt of the world and all its vanities
5Chapter II - Of thinking humbly of oneself
Show all chaptersShow less
6Chapter III - Of the knowledge of truth
7Chapter IV - Of prudence in action
8Chapter V - Of the reading of Holy Scriptures
9Chapter VI - Of inordinate affections
10Chapter VII - Of fleeing from vain hope and pride
11Chapter VIII - Of the danger of too much familiarity
12Chapter IX - Of obedience and subjection
13Chapter X - Of the danger of superfluity of words
14Chapter XI - Of seeking peace of mind and of spiritual progress
15Chapter XII - Of the uses of adversity
16Chapter XIII - Of resisting temptation
17Chapter XIV - On avoiding rash judgment
18Chapter XV - Of works of charity
19Chapter XVI - Of bearing with the faults of others
20Chapter XVII - Of a religious life
21Chapter XVIII - Of the example of the Holy Fathers
22Chapter XIX - Of the exercises of a religious man
23Chapter XX - Of the love of solitude and silence
24Chapter XXI - Of compunction of heart
25Chapter XXII - On the contemplation of human misery
26Chapter XXIII - Of meditation upon death
27Chapter XXIV - Of the judgment and punishment of the wicked
28Chapter XXV - Of the zealous amendment of our whole life
29The Second Book - Admonitions Concerning the Inner Life
30Chapter I - Of the inward life
31Chapter II - Of lowly submission
32Chapter III - Of the good, peaceable man
33Chapter IV - Of a pure mind and simple intention
34Chapter V - Of self-esteem
35Chapter VI - Of the joy of a good conscience
36Chapter VII - Of loving Jesus above all things
37Chapter VIII - Of the intimate love of Jesus
38Chapter IX - Of the lack of all comfort
39Chapter X - Of gratitude for the Grace of God
40Chapter XI - Of the fewness of those who love the Cross of Jesus
41Chapter XII - Of the royal way of the Holy Cross
42The Third Book - On Inward Consolation
43Chapter I - Of the inward voice of Christ to the faithful soul
44Chapter II - What the truth saith inwardly without noise of words
45Chapter III - How all the words of God are to be heard with humility, and how many consider them not
46Chapter IV - How we must walk in truth and humility before God
47Chapter V - Of the wonderful power of the Divine Love
48Chapter VI - Of the proving of the true lover
49Chapter VII - Of hiding our grace under the guard of humility
50Chapter VIII - Of a low estimation of self in the sight of God
More from Thomas à Kempis
The Imitation of ChristThomas à Kempis9h 4m4.4 (88.3K)$13 · $0.00
Prayers and Meditations on the Life of Christ (Annotated)Thomas à Kempis11h 43m4.6 (147)$2 · $0.00
L'imitation de Jésus-Christ (Annoté)Thomas à Kempis13h 45m$1.99 · $0.00
Prayers and Meditations on the Life of ChristThomas à Kempis11h 27m4.5 (233)$1 · $0.00
L'imitation de Jésus-ChristThomas à Kempis14h 7m4.4 (47.4K)$1 · $0.00
Prayers and Meditations on the Life of ChristThomas à Kempis10h 7m$2 · $0.00
Meditations on the Incarnation of Christ (Annotated)Thomas à Kempis9h 26m4.6 (157)$1.99 · $0.00
The Holy Qur-an: Text, Translation and CommentaryAbdullah Yusuf Ali22h 16m4.7 (133K)$1 · $0.00
All of Grace (Annotated)Charles Spurgeon5h 1m4.7 (1.3K)$1.99 · $0.00
Steps to ChristEllen G. White3h 12m4.7 (13.8K)$2 · $0.00
The Doctrine and Selected CovenantsJoseph Smith13h 53m4.7 (10.4K)$1.99 · $0.00
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God & Other Sermons (Annotated)Jonathan Edwards7h 51m4.7 (1.5K)$2 · $0.00
Swayam Ki AwaazPrem Rawat8h 34m4.7 (1.1K)$26 · $0.00
Behind the BadgeAdam Davis10h 18m4.7 (2.7K)$10 · $0.00
The New Human Revolution, vol. 1Daisaku Ikeda7h 46m4.7 (669)$12 · $0.00
You Are Worth ItKyle Carpenter, Don Yaeger8h 53m4.7 (4.8K)$29 · $0.00
Praying GraceDavid A. Holland3h 2m4.7 (658)$10 · $0.00
Evidence Not SeenDarlene Deibler Rose11h 11m4.6 (11.9K)$29 · $0.00
The Christ KeyChad Bird, Chad Bird7h 33m4.7 (592)$17.40 · $0.00
He and IGabrielle Bossis10h 12m4.7 (554)$17 · $0.00
Your Body Already KnowsNidhi Pandya Bhanshali9h 7m4.7 (360)$16 · $0.00
The Complete WorksFlorence Scovel Shinn7h 59m4.6 (6.6K)$2 · $0.00
Driven by EternityJohn Bevere3h 50m4.6 (3.2K)$10 · $0.00
Spiritual AnatomyDaaji Kamlesh D. Patel9h 47m4.7 (319)$29 · $0.00
The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa Translated into English ProseAnonymous8h 1m4.7 (1.9K)$2 · $0.00
The Chosen Book OneAmanda Jenkins, Kristen Hendricks, Dallas Jenkins3h 8m4.6 (4.9K)$10 · $0.00
The Grace MessageAndrew Farley8h 49m4.7 (433)$20 · $0.00
You may also like
Absolute SurrenderAndrew Murray5h 55m4.5 (9.4K)$1.99 · $0.00
On Loving GodSaint Bernard of Clairvaux1h 48m4.3 (2K)$7.50
The Imitation of ChristThomas à Kempis8h 38m4.3 (125.9K)$5.20 · $0.00
Conferences of John CassianJohn Cassian23h 4m4.4 (641)$3 · $0.00
The Imitation of ChristThomas à Kempis6h 27m4.3 (84.6K)$21 · $0.00
The True ChristianJ. C. Ryle9h 19m4.6 (355)$23
Meister Eckhart's SermonsMeister Eckhart1h 25m4.3 (435)$4 · $0.00
The Chosen Book OneAmanda Jenkins, Kristen Hendricks, Dallas Jenkins3h 8m4.6 (4.9K)$10 · $0.00
HUMILITY - The Journey Toward Holiness (Annotated)Andrew Murray3h 33m4.5 (12K)$2 · $0.00
How to bring men to ChristR. A. Torrey3h 21m4.4 (261)$1 · $0.00
Kept for the Master's UseFrances Ridley Havergal3h 17m4.5 (1.5K)$1 · $0.00
The Christian’s Secret of a Happy LifeHannah Whitall Smith5h 26m4.3 (3.2K)$17
The Practice of the Presence of GodBrother Lawrence1h 12m4.4 (90.7K)$16 · $0.00
The Practice of the Presence of GodBrother Lawrence1h 21m4.4 (83K)$10 · $0.00
Abide in ChristAndrew Murray5h 23m4.5 (5.4K)$6 · $0.00
God Wants You HappyJonathan Morris7h 6m4.0 (289)$24 · $0.00
Many Thoughts of Many MindsVarious9h 19m4.2 (23)$1 · $0.00
Jesus Christ HealsCharles Fillmore5h 37m4.4 (165)$1.20 · $0.00
Wallace D. Wattles Ultimate Collection - 10 Books in One VolumeWallace D. Wattles17h 6m4.5 (202)$2 · $0.00
A Disciplined Life Dante' D. Barry1h 29m4.9 (23)$19.99