The Imitation of Christ (Hardcover)

Christian Classic / Devotional / Spiritual Formation / Annotated Edition

Before self-help, there was self-mastery. Before motivation, there was formation.

For more than six centuries, The Imitation of Christ has asked readers to turn away from noise, vanity, distraction, and the restless pursuit of approval, and toward the harder work of humility, discipline, prayer, interior peace, and a life centered on Christ.

Written by Thomas à Kempis, a German-Dutch Catholic canon regular associated with the Augustinian Canons, the work emerged from the spiritual world of the early fifteenth century and is generally dated to around 1418 to 1427. It became one of the most influential devotional books in Christian history.

Its language comes from another age. Its struggle does not.

Ambition. Pride. Anxiety. Comparison. Restlessness. Temptation. The desire to be seen, praised, understood, and vindicated.

Thomas à Kempis turns the reader inward and asks a more demanding question: What would change if you stopped trying to master the world and first learned to master yourself?

Across four books of spiritual instruction, The Imitation of Christ explores humility, detachment, grace, suffering, prayer, communion with God, self-knowledge, and the difficult freedom that comes from placing eternal things above temporary ones.

A Historic Text, Preserved

This Trumpet Publishing House edition forms part of our continuing work to return important texts to contemporary readers without sanding away the character that made them endure.

The historic English translation is preserved, allowing readers to encounter the cadence, gravity, and devotional character of the traditional text. Trumpet Publishing House has added reader annotations to provide context, clarify difficult passages, and help contemporary readers enter a work written more than six centuries ago without replacing the original voice with a modern paraphrase.

The result is both devotional book and heritage edition.

Read a chapter before the day begins. Return to a passage during a difficult season. Annotate it. Give it to someone beginning a new chapter of life. Keep it close enough to become worn.

Because The Imitation of Christ was never written simply to be admired. It was written to be practiced.

The world became louder. The invitation to become still did not.

Format: Hardcover | Author: Thomas à Kempis | Original Work: Early fifteenth century, c. 1418 to 1427 | Edition: Historic Translation with Annotations by Trumpet Publishing House | Interior: Black and White | Length: Approximately 170 pages

Available internationally. Australian readers - paperback edition available locally.

Looking for the perfect gift? The Bespoke Edition is made for a book that may accompany someone for a lifetime. Featuring a foil dust jacket, ribbon bookmark, high-quality paper, and a personalized name or message — an enduring choice for children entering adulthood, parents, grandparents, godchildren, graduates, seminarians, clergy, teachers, mentors, converts, lifelong Catholics, Christians, and readers seeking a deeper interior life.

Perfect for Christmas, Easter, First Communion, Confirmation, Baptism anniversaries, graduation, retreats, spiritual milestones, bereavement, recovery, family libraries, parish gifting, schools, and the quiet gift given simply because someone may need it.

A six-century-old companion for the interior life.

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