Written work · Essential works
The Imitation of Christ
De imitatione Christi (Libri quattuor)
Four booklets written for the spiritual formation of religious which circulated anonymously from the 1420s and which Thomas copied in his own hand, signed and dated, in 1441. The first counsels detachment from vanity and from knowledge that does not make one better; the second invites to the inner life and culminates in 'the royal way of the holy cross'; the third, the longest, is a dialogue between Christ and the disciple on inner consolation and love; the fourth prepares for communion. With more than seven hundred manuscripts and thousands of editions, it is the most widely circulated Christian book after the Bible. For centuries it was also attributed to Jean Gerson and to a supposed abbot Johannes Gersen; the Brussels autograph and Johannes Busch's testimony support Thomas's authorship.
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Authorship note
Author according to critical consensus: Thomas a Kempis. It was claimed for Jean Gerson (d. 1429), to whom many fifteenth- and sixteenth-century editions attributed it, and for a supposed Johannes Gersen, abbot of Vercelli, proposed by Constantino Gaetani in his Roman edition of 1616. Supporting Thomas are the 1441 autograph, Johannes Busch's Chronicon Windeshemense (1464) and agreement with his other works. Whether he reworked earlier material from the devotio moderna circle is debated.
Editions and translations
Editions in your language first, without hiding the others. Each with its cover and its store.
English
The Imitation of Christ
Dover Publications, 2003
Translation: Aloysius Croft y Harold Bolton
ISBN 9780486431857
ISBN visto en Open Library.
The Imitation of Christ in Four Books
Vintage Books, 1998
Translation: Joseph N. Tylenda
ISBN 9780375700187
ISBN visto en Open Library.
Thomas à Kempis
The Imitation of Christ: A New Reading of the 1441 Latin Autograph Manuscript
The Conscious LibraryThe Imitation of Christ: A New Reading of the 1441 Latin Autograph Manuscript
Mercer University Press, 1989
Translation: William C. Creasy
ISBN 9780865543393
ISBN visto en Open Library.
Thomas à Kempis
The Imitation of Christ
The Conscious LibraryThe Imitation of Christ
Londres, 1874
Translation: William Benham (1831–1910)
Texto en Project Gutenberg.
Thomas à Kempis
The Following of Christ, in Four Books
The Conscious LibraryThe Following of Christ, in Four Books
s. l., 1819
Translation: Richard Challoner (1691–1781)
Texto en Project Gutenberg.
Latín
Thomas à Kempis
De imitatione Christi (autógrafo, KBR ms. 5855–5861)
The Conscious LibraryDe imitatione Christi (autógrafo, KBR ms. 5855–5861)
Manuscrito, 1441
Edición diplomática de L. M. J. Delaissé, 1956.
Thomas à Kempis
Imitatio Christi
The Conscious LibraryImitatio Christi
Günther Zainer (Augsburgo), 1472
Primera edición impresa (c. 1471–1472).
Español
Thomas à Kempis
Libro de remedar a Christo e del menosprecio de todas las vanidades del mundo
The Conscious LibraryLibro de remedar a Christo e del menosprecio de todas las vanidades del mundo
s. l., 1495
Primera traducción castellana impresa, atribuida entonces a Gerson.
Thomas à Kempis
De la imitación de Cristo y menosprecio del mundo
The Conscious LibraryDe la imitación de Cristo y menosprecio del mundo
Juan Piferrer (Barcelona), 1747
Translation: Juan Eusebio Nieremberg (1595–1658)
Imitación de Cristo
Debate, 2000
ISBN 9788483063033
Traductor no confirmado en catálogo. ISBN visto en Open Library.
Thomas à Kempis
Imitación de Cristo
The Conscious LibraryImitación de Cristo
Centre de Pastoral Litúrgica, 2003
ISBN 9788471291882
ISBN visto en Open Library.
Imitación de Cristo
Edibesa, 2006
Translation: Fray Luis de Granada (atribuida)
ISBN 9788485803699
Traducción clásica española de fray Luis de Granada. ISBN visto en Open Library.
Deutsch
Thomas à Kempis
Das Buch von der Nachfolge Christi
The Conscious LibraryDas Buch von der Nachfolge Christi
s. l., 1794
Translation: Johann Michael Sailer (1751–1832)
Texto en Zeno.org.
Français
Thomas à Kempis
L'Imitation de Jésus-Christ
The Conscious LibraryL'Imitation de Jésus-Christ
París, 1824
Translation: Félicité de Lamennais (1782–1854)
Texto en Project Gutenberg.
Other works by Thomas à Kempis
- Imitation of Christ, Book I: Admonitions Useful for the Spiritual Life · 1424
- Imitation of Christ, Book II: Admonitions Drawing toward the Inner Life · 1427
- Imitation of Christ, Book III: On Inner Consolation · 1430
- Imitation of Christ, Book IV: On the Blessed Sacrament · 1430
- The Soliloquy of the Soul · 1435
- The Little Garden of Roses · 1440
- The Valley of Lilies · 1440
- Of the Three Tabernacles · 1440
- On the Discipline of Cloistered Religious · 1440
- Of the Faithful Steward · 1440
- Letter to a Cellarer · 1440
- Of True Compunction of Heart · 1440
- Little Book of Spiritual Exercise · 1440
- On the Elevation of the Mind · 1440
- Manual for the Young · 1440
- Manual for Little Ones · 1440
- Hospice of the Poor · 1440
- Consolation of the Poor and the Sick · 1440
- Little Alphabet of a Good Monk · 1440
- Sermons to the Novices Regular · 1440
- Sermons on the Life and Passion of Our Lord; A Meditation on the Incarnation · 1440
- Prayers and Meditations on the Life of Christ · 1440
- Dialogues of the Novices and Lives of the Founders · 1450
- Life of St Lidwina of Schiedam · 1448
- The Chronicle of the Canons Regular of Mount St Agnes · 1471
- Canticles and Hymns · 1450
- Letters · 1450
Sources
- Delaissé, L. M. J. Le manuscrit autographe de Thomas a Kempis et «L'Imitation de Jésus-Christ»: examen archéologique et édition diplomatique du Bruxellensis 5855–61. 2 vols. París y Bruselas: Érasme, 1956.
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