| CUL Home | > | Fondren Library Center | > | Exhibits | > | Books of the Millenium | > | The Imitation of Christ |
There is no one "most influential" book of the last millennium. Books reflect and impact a culture; no book can have universal appeal or importance. Let me offer an extremely influential book in Western Christian culture: The Imitation of Christ, traditionally attributed to Thomas à Kempis. This manual of spiritual devotion was first circulated in 1418 and became an immediate and lasting international "best seller." There exist hundreds of manuscript copies of the work. It was printed in nearly 60 separate editions in the first fifty years of printing and many thousands of times since then. It has been translated into most languages and remains a popular source for those seeking enlightenment and spiritual discipline.
Bridwell Library owns the first edition (printed in Augsburg, before 1473) and many other fifteenth-century editions, as well as an excellent collection of later editions of the Imitatio Christi.
Of the Imitation of Christi, one commentator said:
The Imitation may be recommended as a noble example of that simplicity and perfection of literary style which is the mark of the highest genius. To thoughtful theologians it comes home as a work of true religion based upon careful and exact theology. To deeply religious souls it approaches, with a tender touch of a well-known hand, the hand of Christ, which can lead them on to higher things. To the way-worn and the weary it appeals by its simple and straightforward teaching of a life of peace, even here, to those who seek God. To all humans, if they use it, it must speak of the better things for which their souls are longing…..
Valerie R. Hotchkiss
J. S. Bridwell Foundation Endowed Librarian
Associate Professor Medieval Studies
