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The Imitation Of Christ Thomas A Kempis Summary

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The Imitation of Christ – This piece is authored by Augustinian monk, Thomas a Kempis, which appears to be a devotional work that is directed to young monks. Kempis addresses a variety of topics which one would assume to be important enough to be pillars of the Christian faith such as: the imitation of Christ, the contrition of the heart, solitude and silence, human misery, judgement and reward, and death. In regards to imitating and following Christ’s example for His elect, Kempis adamantly states that one cannot go about this half-heartedly. A Christian must give everything (whether physical or mental strength, material resources, etc.) as well as have an indwelling of the Holy Spirit in order to even begin to imitate Christ. It is not enough to simply …show more content…

By Church, he means the one, true, universal, and apostolic Church who is the Bride of Christ. Firstly, Hus states that the Church is defined by its trait of unity. All true members of the Church are unified in Christ by the same Spirit, the same faith, and the same love. However, in order to be considered a true member of the Church, one must be predestined to the Church, meaning that one must be predestined to eternal life after death. This distinction must be made because Hus posits that there are different kinds of grace that determine whether or not one is predestined to eternal life or to righteousness. He clarifies that it is possible to be predetermined to righteousness, but not to eternal life and that it is always the case that if one is predetermined to eternal life, then he or she is also predetermined to righteousness. Both kinds of people can consider themselves members of the Church, but Hus concludes that only those who are predetermined to eternal life are the true members of the Church (even if they live sinful lives without repentance until late in their

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