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The
Imitation of Christ, by
Thomas á Kempis, (1380-1471)
BACKGROUND Thomas á Kempis was born in 1380, in the transition between the great renaissance of Hellenistic "classical" thought in the high middle ages and what would later be called "The Renaissance" of the 15th and 16th centuries. When he was 13, the story goes, his parents sent him off for an education with the Brethren of the Common Life, the semi-official group of pious men who practiced the via moderna in their piety, which was to stress the path of feelings of inner devotedness and humility before God. Thomas became an Augustinian monk, was ordained a priest, and lived for over seventy years until his death in 1471 at the age of 91 (if the traditional dates given for him are correct) in the monastery of St. Agnes. He scorned all worldly accomplishments, including achievements of the intellect. Fear and love of God as the ALL, despising oneself as next to nothing: these were the basic rules of his life. In spite of the medieval worldliness and even anti-humanism of his thought, his work The Imitation of Christ has remained on the best seller lists right down to today, perhaps because his pointed words impale pomposity and pride and defend simple devotion, humility, and courage. He followed Christian tradition by placing all his hopes in the life to come and disdaining the things of this world. He followed one of the currents in that same tradition by favoring faith over reason, castigating those who thought that school learning counted in God's eyes. The high degree of individualism and sense of personal autonomy in á Kempis' thought was less traditional by this time. Or we could call it a recovery of an earlier spirituality. Centuries earlier Augustine had a strong sense of interiority, an awareness of his individual inner relation to God, as Augustine's great autobiography, The Confessions, illustrate. But this interiority was submerged in the early middle ages. By the time of á Kempis the concern for the inner spiritual life of the individual person had re-emerged into importance, as manifest in the devotio moderna. Á Kempis, trained by the Brethren of the Common Life in his youth, adopted this kind of piety. In line with his emphasis on the inner life á Kempis's words place the responsibility for salvation upon the inner decisions of the person. It is difficult to find in á Kempis many references to a total dependency on God's grace. Instead á Kempis urges a person to work hard, to reflect carefully, to choose wisely, all as though it were in our power to do wise and saving acts. Note well á Kempis's prayer to God: "make me one with you in everlasting love." This search for an inner loving unity with God will appear in many Christian writings of later centuries, such as those of Pascal. This search will appear particularly in those writings that came to be called "pietist." (You will later read words from Friedrich Schleiermacher, whose parents were pietists. You will also study the deists, who will seek to know God mainly through their minds rather than their hearts.) Selections from Book I.
Ch. I: On the Imitation of Christ and contempt for all the vanities of the world. 1. The person who follows me does not walk in darkness, says the Lord. These are the words with which Christ admonishes us to imitate his life and manners if we wish truly to be enlightened and freed from all blindness of the heart. Let it be our chief study then to meditate on the life of Jesus Christ. 2. The doctrine of Christ surpasses all the doctrines of the saints, and whoever has the spirit will find there a hidden manna. But it happens that many people, from a too frequent hearing of the gospel, feel little desire because they do not have the Spirit of Christ. Whoever wants to understand fully and wisely the words of Christ must study to conform all aspects of life to His. 3. What profit is there to make lofty analyses about the Trinity, if through lack of humility you are displeasing to the Trinity. Truly, lofty words do not make a person holy and just; only a virtuous life makes a person dear to God. I had rather feel compunction than know its definition. If you knew the whole bible by heart and the sayings of all the philosophers, what good would it be without the love of God and divine grace? Vanity of vanity and all is vanity [Eccles.1:2] except loving God and serving God alone. This is the highest wisdom: through contempt for the world to move towards the heavenly kingdom. 4. It is vanity therefore to seek perishable wealth and to trust in it. It is vanity also to be ambitious for honors and to raise oneself to high station. It is vanity to follow after desires of the flesh, and to want something for which eventually you must be punished. It is vanity to hope for a long life and to care too little about living a good life. It is vanity to pay attention only to this life and not provide for what is to come. Ch. II: Against useless knowledge, and on taking a low view of ourselves. 1. Everyone naturally desires knowledge [said Aristotle]. But what value is there in knowledge without the fear of God? A humble peasant who serves God is much more acceptable to God than is a proud philosopher who analyzes the movement of the stars. He who knows himself well is lowly in his own sight, and takes no delight in the vain praise of others. If I knew all the things that exist in this world, but live not in charity, what would it avail me before God, who will judge me according to my deeds? 2. Cut yourself off from an excessive desire for knowledge; because in this there is great distraction and deceit. Those who have great knowledge usually want to be held as special in the world. But there are many things the knowledge of which brings but little profit to the soul, and a person is very unwise to take heed of any other thing, than that which serves for salvation. Words do not satisfy the soul; but a good life refreshes the mind, and a clean conscience brings a person to a great trust in God. 3. The more knowledge you have, the more seriously you will be judged, unless you have also lived a more holy life. So do not puff yourself up about your skills or knowledge, but have all the more fear in your heart. If you think that you know many things and understand them quite well, know that there are many more things that you do not know. Do not spout wisdom from on high, but confess your ignorance. Why should you prefer yourself to anyone else since there are many more learned than you to be found and more experienced in the law? If you want to know and learn something really useful, love to be unknown and obscure. This is the highest and most useful lesson: true knowledge of self is to look down on one’s own self. It is a great wisdom and high perfection to think nothing of ourselves but always to have a good and high opinion of others. If you should see another openly sinning or committing some serious wrong, do not think the more of yourself for that, because you have no idea how long you will persevere in goodness. We are all frail, but hold none more frail than yourself . . . . Ch. III: Of the Teaching of the Truth. 1. Happy is the person whom truth itself teaches and informs, not by indirect calculations and logic, but just as it is in itself. Our thoughts and our senses often deceive us, so that we see little. What profit is there in solemn argumentations about complex and obscure matters, when ignorance of these things will not be held against us at the day of judgment? It is thus great folly to be negligent in those things that are profitable and necessary to us, and to busy ourselves with things that are just harmful pedantry. Truly if we do so, we have eyes but see not. 2. Of what concern is it to us [to know about] genera and species [as the scholastics do], when the person to whom the Word speaks is set free from conflicting opinions? From one Word all things proceed, and all things speak of this one thing. And this Word is the basis of everything else, which speaks to us also. No one can understand things rightly without it, or judge anything correctly. The person to whom all things are one, and who draws all things into this unity, and sees the unity in everything, is a person of a steady heart and rests peacefully in God. O truth, my God, make me one with you in everlasting love. It tires me to read and listen to many things; in you is all that I desire or seek. Let all the teachers be quiet; let all creatures be silent in your sight. May you alone speak to me . . . . * * * * 5. Tell me, where now are all the great clerics and famous teachers? When they lived they flourished through their learning. But now others occupy their places and I cannot tell what thought anyone has for them. In their life they seemed to be something, and now few mention them . . . . 6. O how quickly the glory of this world passes away and all its false and deceptive pleasures. Would to God the pattern of their daily life had fit well with their learning, for then their learning would have been worth while. How many perish in this world by vain knowledge, those that care little about the service of God. Because they desire to be great rather than lowly, they lose themselves in their own mental manipulations. Truly great is the person with great love; great the one who is little in her or his own sight, and that treats worldly honors as nothing. That person is very wise who accounts all worldly pleasures as excrement, in order to win Christ. That person is truly learned who sacrifices personal choices and follows the will of God. * * * * Ch. 8. It is good to avoid familiarity with others. 1. Do not open your heart to every person, but only to those that are wise and fearful of God. Rarely be with young people and strangers; do not flatter rich people, avoid the company of great personages. Associate with the humble and simple in heart, those who are devout and well-disciplined, and speak with them about things that edify. Do not be familiar with any woman, but commend all good women to God. Desire to be familiar only with God and with His Angels. But avoid the notice of other people. |
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