The Imitation of Christ (For Teens)

He was born Thomas Hemerken around 1380 in Kempen, a town in what is now Germany. At about twelve he went to school at Deventer in the Netherlands, then joined a small monastery called Mount St Agnes, where he lived for about seventy years. He copied books by hand, including the whole Bible, and was put in charge of training the young men who joined. He died in 1471.

It is four small books of advice on following Jesus, written in the 1420s for the young men Thomas was training. Book I and Book II are short counsels on the inner life. Book III is written as a conversation in which Christ speaks and the disciple answers. Book IV is about preparing for Communion. After the Bible, it has probably been read more than any other Christian book.

No. It is Thomas’s way of writing: he imagines what Christ would say to a disciple, drawing on the Bible, and the disciple answers in prayer. It is a devotional conversation, not new Scripture. Many of its best lines echo things Jesus actually says in the Gospels.

He wrote in the strong language of a monastery, and some of it can sound harsh today. What he means by humility is seeing yourself truthfully, not hating yourself: admitting what you don’t know, not needing to look better than others, and depending on God. If you already struggle with feeling worthless, hear the other half of his message too: you are loved by God and invited to be Jesus’ friend.

No. It is a retelling for teenagers in plain modern words, choosing some of the most important chapters from all four books and keeping Thomas’s own sentences where they say it best. The full Imitation of Christ is also available.

Thomas was a Catholic priest, and he believed Christ is truly present in the bread and wine of Communion. Christians from different traditions understand Communion in different ways. But they share the heart of what he says there: that we need both the word of God and Christ himself, as surely as we need light and food.