The Imitatio Christi is taken into account one of many vintage texts of Western spirituality. there have been 800 manuscript copies and greater than 740 various revealed versions of the Imitatio among its composition within the 15th century and 1650. throughout the Reformation interval, the e-book retained its recognition with either Protestants and Catholics; except for the Bible it was once the main often revealed ebook of the 16th century. during this pioneering learn, the striking durability of the Imitatio throughout geographical, chronological, linguistic and confessional limitations is explored. instead of attributing this enduring acceptance to any specific caliber of universality, this learn means that its key advantage used to be its appropriation through diversified curiosity teams. That such an it appears Catholic and monastic paintings will be followed and tailored through either Protestant reformers and Catholic activists (including the Jesuits) poses exciting questions about our realizing of Reformation and Counter Reformation theology and confessional politics. This research makes a speciality of the variations of the Imitatio revealed in English, French, German and Latin among the 1470s and 1650. It deals an formidable and finished survey of the method of translation and its effect and contribution to spiritual tradition. In so doing it bargains a clean research of spirituality and devotion inside their right overdue medieval and early glossy contexts. It additionally demonstrates that spirituality was once no longer a peripheral measurement of faith, yet is still on the very center of either Catholic and Protestant self-perception and identity.