Impact and Influences
The Imitation of Christ is regarded as the most important devotional work in Catholic Christianity and is the most widely read devotional work next to the Bible. Apart from the Bible no book has been translated into more languages than the Imitation of Christ.
The book was admired by the following individuals: St. Thomas More, chancellor and renowned humanist who gave his life in the anti-Catholic pogrom of King Henry VIII of England; St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus; and twentieth century American Catholic author and monk, Thomas Merton. It also has been admired by countless others, both Catholic and Protestant. The Jesuits give it an official place among their "exercises".
John Wesley and John Newton, the founders of the Methodist Movement, listed The Imitation among the works that influenced them at their conversion. General Gordon carried it with him to the battlefield.
Filipino national hero Jose Rizal reportedly read this book while in prison at Intramuros, Manila, in the Philippines before his execution by a Spanish squad of soldiers.
Swami Vivekananda, the 19th Century Hindu Philosopher and founder of Vedanta Society, drew a number of parallels between the teachings of the Imitation and the Bhagavad Gita. Vivekananda wrote a preface and a translation of the Imitation in 1899. Vivekananda would always carry a copy of the Bhagavad Gita and the Imitation. Spiritual writer Eknath Easwaran compared the teachings of the Imitation with the Upanishads.
The Imitation of Christ was an early influence on the spirituality of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, who used it in her prayer life, distilled its message and used it in her own writings which then influenced Catholic spirituality as a whole. Thérèse was so attached to the book and read it so many times that she could quote passages from it from memory in her teens.
Theologian Shailer Mathews wrote that the Imitation presents an accurate description of the Christ of the Gospels, and gives an unbiased reading of the words of Jesus. He also wrote "For centuries men have found in it inspiration to sacrifice and humility, and to severest self-examination...He who has never come under its influence has missed something that would have made him more humble and more ambitious for purity of life."
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