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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: I27-INV |
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IMITATION OF CHRIST, THE (Imitatio Christi) , the title of a famous medieval Christian devotional work, much used still by both Catholics and Protestants and usually ascribed to Thomas a Kempis. The " Contestation " over the author of the Imitation of Christ is probably the most considerable and famous controversy that has ever been carried on concerning a purely literary question. It has been going on almost without flagging for three centuries, and nearly 200 combatants have entered the lists. In the present article nothing is said on the history of the controversy, but an attempt is made to summarize the results that may be looked on as definitely acquired. Until quite recently there were three candidates in the fieldThomas a Kempis (13801471), a canon regular of Mount
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The following is a statement of the facts that may be received as certain: t. The earliest-known dated MS. of the Imitation is of 1424it contains only Bk. I.; the earliest MSS. of the whole work of certain date are of 1427. Probably some of the undated MSS. are older; but it is the verdict of the most competent modern expert opinion that there is no palaeographical reason for suspecting that any known MS. is earlier than the first quarter of the 15th century.2. A Latin letter of a Dutch canon regular, named Johann van Schoonhoven, exhibits such a close connexion with Bk. I. that plagiarism on the one side or the other is the only possible explanation. It is capable of demonstration that the author of the Imitation was the borrower, and that .the opposite hypo-thesis is inadmissible. Now, this letter can be shown to have been written after 1382. Therefore Bk. I. was beyond controversy written between the years 1382 and 1424. 3. It is not here assumed that the four treatises formed a single work, or even that they are all by the same author; and the date of the other three books cannot be fixed with the same certainty. But, on the one hand, before the beginning of the 15th century there is no trace whatever of their existence a strong argument that they did not yet exist; and on the other hand, after 1424 nearly each year produces its quota of I\ISS. and other signs of the existence of these books become frequent. Moreover, as a matter of fact, the four treatises did commonly circulate together. The presumption is strong that Bks. II., III., IV., like Bk. I., were composed shortly before they were put into circulation. It may then be taken as proved that the Imitation was composed between 1380 and 1425, and probably towards the end rather than the beginning of that period. Having ascertained the date, we must consider the birthplace. 4. A number of idioms and turns of expression throughout the book show that its author belonged to some branch of the Teutonic race. Further than this the argument does not lead; for when the dialects of the early 15th century are considered it cannot be said that the expressions in question are Netherlandic rather than Germanas a matter of fact, they have all been paralleled out of High German dialects. 5. Of the 400 MSS. of the Imitation 340 come from the Teutonic countriesanother argument in favour of its Teutonic origil;. Again, too of them, including the earliest, come from the Nether-lands. This number is quite disproportionate to the relative size of the Netherlands, and so points to Holland as the country in which the Imitation was first most widely circulated and presumably composed. 6. There is a considerable body of early evidence, traceable before 1450, that the author was a canon regular. 7. Several of the MSS. were written in houses belonging to the Windesheim Congregation of canons regular, or, in close touch with it. Moreover there is a specially intimate literary and spiritual relationship between the Imitation and writings that emanated from what has been called the " Windesheim Circle."To sum up: the indirect evidence points clearly to the conclusion that the Imitation was written by a Teutonic canon regular, probably a Dutch canon regular of the Windesheim Congregation, in the first quarter of the 15th century. These data are satisfied by Thomas a Kempis. We pass to the direct evidence, neglecting that of witnesses who had no special
8. There can be no question that in the Windesheim Congregation itself there was already, during Thomas a Kempis's lifetime, a fixed tradition that he was the author of the Imitation. The most important witness to this tradition is Johann Busch. It is true that the crucial words are missing in one copy of his " Chronicle " ; but it is clear there were two redactions of the work, and there are no grounds whatever for doubting that the second with its various enlargements came from the hands of Busch himselfa copy of it containing the passage exists written in 1464, while both Busch and Thomas a Kempis were still alive. Busch passed a great part of his life in Windesheim, only a few miles from Mount
9. More than this: the tradition existed in Thomas Kempis's own monastery shortly after his death. For John Mauburne became a canon in Mount St Agnes within a few years of Thomas's death, and he states more than once that Thomas wrote the Imitation. ro. The earliest biographer of Thomas a Kempis was an anonymous contemporary: the Life was printed in 1494, but it exists in a MS. of 1488. The biographer says he got his information from the brethren at Mount St Agnes, and he states in passing that Bk. III. was written by Thomas. Moreover, he appends a list
It is needless to point out that such a list
Internal arguments have been urged against Thomas's author-ship. It has been said that his certainly authentic writings are so inferior that the Imitation could not have been written by the same author. But only if they were of the most certain and peremptory nature could such internal arguments be allowed to weigh against the clear array of facts that make up the external argument in favour of a Kempis. And it cannot be said that the internal difficulties are such as this. Let it be granted that Thomas was a prolific writer and that his writings vary very much in quality; let it be granted also that the Imitation surpasses all the rest, and that some are on a level very far below it; still, when at their best, some of the other works are not unworthy of the author of the Imitation. In conclusion, it is the belief of the present writer that the " Contestation " is over, and that Thomas a Kempis's claims to the authorship of the Imitation have been solidly established. The best account in English of the Controversy is that given by F. R. Cruise in his Thomas a Kempis (1887). Works produced before 188o are in general, with the exception of those of Eusebius Amort, superannuated, and deal in large measure with points no longer of any living interest
It has been said that the Imitation of Christ has had a wider religious influence than any book except the Bible, and if the statement be limited to Christendom, it is probably true. The Imitation has been translated into over fifty languages, and is said to have run through more than 6000 editions. The other statement, often made, that it sums up all that is best of earlier Western mysticismthat in it " was gathered and concentered all that was elevating, passionate, profoundly pious in all the older mystics" (Milman) is an exaggeration that is but partially true, for it depreciates unduly the elder mystics and fails to do justice to the originality of the Imitation. For its spiritual teaching is something quite different from the mysticism of Augustine in the Confessions, or of Bernard
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The best Latin edition of the Imitation is that of Hirsche (1874), which follows closely the autograph of 1441 and reproduces the rhythmical character of the book. Of English translations the most interesting is that by John Wesley, under the title The Christian's Pattern (1735). (E. C. B.) End of Article: IMITATION OF CHRIST, THE (Imitatio Christi) If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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