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Imitation of Christ

1910 New Catholic Dictionary

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Dictionaries
1910 New Catholic Dictionary
• Imitation of Christ
Encyclopedias
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
• The Imitation of Christ
McClintock and Strong's Bible Encyclopedia
• Imitation of Christ
The Nuttall Encyclopedia
• Imitation of Christ

A devotional book sometimes called the "Following of Christ," published anonymously in 1418. Its authorship, once in dispute, is now attributed to Thomas a Kempis, a Canon of Windesheim, Netherlands, whose autographed manuscript of the work appeared in 1441. It is a series of counsels of perfection written in Latin in a familiar style, and divided into four books:

70. Useful admonitions for a spiritual life
71. Admonitions concerning spiritual things
72. Of interior consolation
73. Of the Blessed Sacrament, usually omitted in Protestant editions

It aims to instruct the soul in Christian perfection with Christ as the Divine Model and, next to the Bible, is perhaps the most widely read spiritual book in the world.