Book Club Questions for The Imitation of Christ

1.The introductory note describes Thomas as spending the last seventy years of his life at Mount St. Agnes, occupied with 'copying manuscripts, reading, and composing, and in the peaceful routine of monastic piety.' What is your initial reaction to a life shaped so entirely by hiddenness and repetition? Does it attract you, repel you, or both?

2.The note observes that The Imitation of Christ 'is hardly an original work at all' — its ideas and phrases are drawn from the Bible and the Church Fathers, woven together with 'delicate skill and a religious feeling at once so ardent and so sound.' How does knowing this shape the way you approach the book? What might Thomas be modeling by preferring received wisdom over originality?

3.The note records genuine scholarly uncertainty about whether Thomas actually wrote this book. Why do you think the identity of the author has mattered so much to readers over five centuries? And why might Thomas himself — given what the book argues — not have minded the ambiguity?

1.Thomas opens with Christ's words from John 8: 'He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness.' He then writes, 'What doth it profit thee to enter into deep discussion concerning the Holy Trinity, if thou lack humility, and be thus displeasing to the Trinity?' What is Thomas's actual argument here? Is he against theology and learning, or is he making a more careful point?

2.In Chapter II, Thomas contrasts 'a lowly peasant who serveth God' with 'a proud philosopher who watcheth the stars and neglecteth the knowledge of himself.' Where do you see the temptation to confuse knowledge about spiritual things with actual spiritual life — in yourself, or in the Christian culture around you?

3.Thomas warns in Chapter II: 'The greater and more complete thy knowledge, the more severely shalt thou be judged, unless thou hast lived holily.' Does this frighten you or motivate you? How does it sit alongside Paul's statement that 'knowledge puffs up, but love builds up' (1 Cor. 8:1)?

1.In Chapter VI, Thomas makes a sharp observation: the man who yields to inordinate desire finds that 'immediately he is weighed down by the condemnation of his conscience, because he hath followed his own desire, and yet in no way attained the peace which he hoped for.' Have you experienced this pattern — getting what you wanted and finding it did not deliver the peace you anticipated? What does Thomas say is the true source of peace?

2.Chapter VIII warns against 'too much familiarity' — being careless about who shapes our inner life through close companionship. Thomas says, 'We must love all men, but not make close companions of all.' Does this strike you as cold or as wisdom? How do you currently make decisions about who gets close access to your heart and mind?

3.In Chapter XI, Thomas writes that 'if each year should see one fault rooted out from us, we should go quickly on to perfection.' He then laments that we 'often feel that we were better and holier in the beginning of our conversion than after many years.' Is this honest with your own experience? What has happened — for better or worse — to your first ardor?

1.Chapter XIV opens: 'Look well unto thyself, and beware that thou judge not the doings of others. In judging others a man laboureth in vain; he often erreth, and easily falleth into sin; but in judging and examining himself he always laboureth to good purpose.' What practical difference would it make to your relationships if you redirected your judgmental energy entirely inward?

2.In Chapter XV, Thomas distinguishes true charity from what 'seemeth to be charity' but is 'rather carnality, because it springeth from natural inclination, self-will, hope of repayment, desire of gain.' How do you test your own charitable impulses? When have you been surprised to discover that something you thought was love was actually something self-serving?

3.Chapter XVI contains one of Thomas's most stinging observations: 'We will that others be straitly corrected, but we will not be corrected ourselves. The freedom of others displeaseth us, but we are dissatisfied that our own wishes shall be denied us.' Where do you see this double standard operating in your own life?

1.Chapter XX opens with a famous line: 'As oft as I have gone among men, so oft have I returned less a man.' Thomas is not counseling misanthropy, but he is diagnosing something real about how excessive socializing can thin the inner life. Is this honest with your own experience? What happens to your interior life after long stretches of busyness and noise?

2.Thomas writes in Chapter XX: 'Shut thy door upon thee, and call unto thyself Jesus thy beloved. Remain with Him in thy chamber, for thou shalt not elsewhere find so great peace.' What does your 'chamber' — your place and practice of inner withdrawal — look like? If you don't have one, what gets in the way of creating it?

3.Chapter XXIII on death is among the most striking in the book. Thomas writes: 'When it is morning reflect that it may be thou shalt not see the evening, and at eventide dare not to boast thyself of the morrow.' Medieval Christians meditated on death as a spiritual discipline (the ars moriendi tradition). Does the thought of your own death feel like a friend or an enemy to your spiritual life right now? Why?

1.Chapter I opens Book Two with Christ's words, 'The kingdom of God is within you,' and Thomas draws the implication: 'Christ will come to thee, and show thee His consolation, if thou prepare a worthy mansion for Him within thee.' What does it mean practically to prepare your interior life as a dwelling for Christ? What would need to be cleared out or rearranged?

2.Thomas writes in Chapter I: 'If thou hadst once entered into the mind of Jesus, and hadst tasted yea even a little of his tender love, then wouldst thou care nought for thine own convenience or inconvenience.' He is describing a transformation of desire, not just behavior. Have you ever tasted something of that kind of love? What was it like, and what did it do to your ordinary preoccupations?

3.Chapter II offers a striking summary of humility: 'Reckon not thyself to have profited in anywise unless thou feel thyself to be inferior to all.' Thomas is not calling us to false self-deprecation or low self-worth in a psychological sense, but to a particular posture before God and others. What is the difference between healthy humility and unhealthy self-contempt? How do you navigate that?

1.Chapter VII opens with one of Thomas's most beloved lines: 'He who cleaveth to created things will fall with their slipperiness; but he who embraceth Jesus will stand upright for ever.' He then says that if we seek ourselves in others, we find ourselves to our own hurt — but if we seek Jesus in all things, we find Jesus. Where are you currently looking for the stability that only Jesus can give?

2.Chapter VIII famously begins: 'When Jesus is present all is well and nothing seemeth hard, but when Jesus is not present everything is hard.' Thomas points to Mary Magdalene, who 'rose up quickly from the place where she wept when Martha said, The Master is come and calleth for thee.' When have you experienced that sudden shift — from heaviness to life — at a renewed sense of Christ's presence? What brought it about?

3.Chapter IX introduces St. Laurence, who 'despised everything in the world' including his beloved bishop Sixtus, choosing God's good pleasure over even the deepest human affection. Thomas uses this to argue that true love of God eventually requires releasing even the things we love most. Does this call to radical detachment feel like liberation or loss to you? How might it be both?

1.Chapter I opens: 'Blessed is the soul which heareth the Lord speaking within it, and receiveth the word of consolation from His mouth.' Thomas describes an inward hearing that is distinct from reading or being taught. What does it mean to 'hear' God in this interior sense? How do you distinguish the inward voice of Christ from your own thoughts or wishes?

2.In Chapter II, Thomas prays: 'Let not Moses speak to me, nor any prophet, but rather speak Thou, O Lord... For they can indeed utter words, but they give not the spirit... They water, but Thou givest the increase.' He is not dismissing Scripture or teachers, but insisting on a priority. What role do secondary means — books, sermons, friends — play in your hearing of God? Do they tend to lead you to Christ or substitute for Him?

3.Chapter III has Christ saying: 'The world promiseth things that are temporal and small, and it is served with great eagerness. I promise things that are great and eternal, and the hearts of mortals are slow to stir.' Why do you think that is true of you? What makes eternal promises feel less urgent than immediate ones?

1.Chapter X opens with a long, lyrical prayer of gratitude: 'O Fountain of perpetual love, what shall I say concerning Thee? How shall I be unmindful of Thee, who didst vouchsafe to remember me?' Thomas is modeling a practice of recalling and celebrating God's initiatives toward us. Take a moment: what are two or three specific ways God has pursued you that you tend to forget?

2.Chapter XI contains the indictment that most cross-bearers lack genuine detachment: 'Rarely is any one found so spiritual as to be stripped of all selfish thoughts.' Thomas says that even giving away all goods, doing great penances, and understanding deep things still leaves 'one thing' lacking — the complete giving up of oneself, including the sense of having done well. Is this liberating or discouraging? What is Thomas actually calling us to?

3.Chapter XIII has Christ say: 'What great thing is it that thou, who art dust and nothingness, yieldest thyself to man for God's sake, when I, the Almighty and the Most High, subjected Myself to man for thy sake?' Thomas grounds the call to humble obedience in the incarnation and submission of Christ. How does that foundation change the feel of obedience from duty to response?

1.Chapter XXI contains Thomas's great prayer: 'Grant me, most sweet and loving Jesus, to rest in Thee above every creature... above all hope and promise, above all merit and desire, above all gifts and rewards.' He is describing a rest that lies beyond even spiritual experiences and gifts. Have you ever tasted rest that was not dependent on circumstances, feelings, or outcomes? What was it like?

2.Chapter XXIII offers four practices for 'great peace': doing another's will rather than your own, choosing less rather than more, seeking the lowest place, and praying that God's will be done. Thomas calls this 'a short discourse' that is 'full of meaning.' Which of the four is most countercultural in your current life? Which is most needed?

3.Chapter XXV has Christ say that true peace does not consist in having no adversary, in being in a state of spiritual fervor, or in having things go according to your desire. Instead: 'In offering thyself with all thy heart to the Divine Will... so that thou remain with the same steady countenance in giving of thanks between prosperity and adversity.' Where in your life is your peace most conditional on circumstances going well?

1.Chapter XXXII has Christ say: 'Hold fast the short and complete saying, Renounce all things, and thou shalt find all things; give up thy lust, and thou shalt find rest.' Thomas calls this 'enclosed all the perfection of the religious.' Does renunciation feel like loss or like finding? Have you ever experienced the paradox that giving something up opened a larger life?

2.Chapter XXXIV opens: 'Behold, God is mine, and all things are mine! What will I more, and what more happy thing can I desire?' Thomas is describing a soul that has found its sufficiency in God alone. 'My God, my all! To him that understandeth, that word sufficeth.' Is 'my God, my all' a live description of your experience, an aspiration, or does it feel unreachable? What stands between you and it?

3.Chapter XXXVII has Christ say: 'Always; every hour: in that which is little, and in that which is great... I will that thou be found naked in all things.' Thomas is describing total self-surrender, not as a one-time crisis but as a continuous posture. What does it look like to practice this surrender 'in that which is little' — in small daily choices — rather than only in dramatic moments?

1.Chapter XLVII has Christ promise: 'An hour shall come when all labour and confusion shall cease. Little and short is all that passeth away with time.' Thomas keeps returning to eternity as the lens that reframes present suffering. How does the promise of eternal glory change — or should it change — the way you endure present difficulty? Is it a live hope for you, or does it feel abstract?

2.Chapter XLVIII contains one of the book's most beautiful passages: the longing for the 'day of eternity' — 'Day always joyful, always secure and never changing.' Thomas then confesses honestly: 'Oft am I continually distracted... for often and often, where in the body I stand or sit, there I myself am not; but rather am I there, whither I am borne by my thoughts.' Is this honest with your own experience of prayer and attention?

3.Chapter XLVIII also contains a profound diagnostic: 'For whatsoever things I love, on these I readily converse and listen... Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.' Thomas says attention follows love. What does the pattern of your thoughts — what your mind wanders to when it is free — reveal about where your treasure actually is?

1.Chapter I opens with the 'voice of Christ': 'Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you.' Thomas meditates on the astonishing condescension of this invitation: 'Angels and Archangels stand in awe of Thee, the Saints and just men fear Thee, and Thou sayest, Come unto Me!' How does the radical accessibility of Christ in the Lord's Supper — or in prayer — strike you? Does it produce wonder, or have you grown accustomed to it?

2.Thomas in Chapter I compares himself unfavorably to David dancing before the Ark, to Moses building the tabernacle, to Solomon building the temple — all as examples of holy reverence toward the presence of God. He then asks: if they prepared so carefully for a shadow, how should I prepare for the substance? What does 'preparing to receive Christ' look like in your tradition and practice? Is there a gap between the preparation and the reality?

3.Chapter II opens: 'Trusting in Thy goodness and great mercy, O Lord, I draw near, the sick to the Healer, the hungering and thirsting to the Fountain of life.' Thomas structures approach to the Eucharist entirely around need, not worthiness. How would it change your experience of receiving Communion — or of coming to God in prayer — to frame it explicitly as the sick coming to the Healer rather than the good coming to be rewarded?

1.Chapter VII calls for 'examination of conscience and purpose of amendment' before receiving Communion. Thomas suggests examining our relationships, our secret sins, and our dominant failures. This is not meant to produce paralysis but honesty. What would honest self-examination before a serious reception of Communion actually look like for you right now? What would you confess?

2.Chapter XI draws a remarkable parallel: 'The Body and Blood of Christ and the Holy Scriptures are most necessary to a faithful soul.' Thomas says both the word and the table are Christ's gifts for the journey, and that to neglect either is spiritual harm. How do word and sacrament function together in your own spiritual nourishment? Does one tend to crowd out the other?

3.Chapter XIV recounts the yearning of ancient saints who desired Communion so intensely that, unable to receive the Sacrament, they would nevertheless 'kiss the ground where the priest stood' in their longing. Thomas is not recommending that practice but describing the quality of desire — a hunger for Christ so real it expressed itself physically. What does your desire for Christ's presence actually feel like? What would it look like to cultivate more of it?

1.Looking back over the four books: which single chapter, image, or sentence from The Imitation of Christ has stayed with you most persistently? What is it about that passage that has lodged in you?

2.Thomas's central argument is that the imitation of Christ — humble, cross-bearing, inwardly attentive — is the only thing worth pursuing, and that 'all is vanity save to love God and Him only to serve.' How has your understanding of that claim shifted over these weeks? Do you believe it more or less fully than when you began?

3.Thomas diagnoses the root problem of the spiritual life as self-love — the soul curving in on itself rather than toward God. Looking honestly at your own life, what form does self-love most characteristically take for you? Has this book given you any new language or understanding for it?