Part I: The imitation of Christ --
I. Jesus Christ: His birth (Christmas-related stories) --
The revolt in heaven / Samuel Kamaleson --
"Why the chimes rang" / Raymond Macdonald Alden --
"If He had not come" / Nan F. Weeks --
"The innkeeper of Bethlehem" / J.W.G. Ward --
"Merry Tifton!" / D. James Kennedy --
II. Jesus Christ: His life and ministry --
"The creation" / James Weldon Johnson --
"The man born blind" / J.W.G. Ward --
The startling painting / Fyodor Dostoyevsky --
"Alive" / Max Lucado --
The story of the faithful friend and its exegesis in a medieval sermon / Summary of Everyman --
III. Imitating Christ --
The deaths of the apostles / John Foxe --
"In the arena" / Chuck Colson --
"The ministry of Edward Spencer" / Jerry Newcombe --
"Father Zossima's brother" / Fyodor Dostoyevsky --
In His steps / Charles M. Sheldon. Part II: The seven deadly sins --
I. Pride --
The temptation of Christ / from the Gospel According to Luke (NIV) --
The parable of the Pharisee and the Publican / from the Gospel According to Luke (NIV) --
The casket scenes from The Merchant of Venice / William Shakespeare --
Paradise lost / John Milton --
Ben Franklin on pride / from Poor Richard's Almanack --
Proclamation of a national fast day / Abraham Lincoln --
Our solid American citizen / Ralph Linton --
"The teapot" / Hans Christian Andersen --
"The good things of life" / Arthur Gordon --
II. Greed --
Naboth's vineyard / from the Book of I Kings (NIV) --
The healing of Naaman the Leper and the greed of Gehazi / retold by Jesse Hurlbut --
The widow's mite / from the Gospel According to Luke (NIV) --
Ananias and Sapphira / from the Book of Acts (NIV) --
"The stolen fruit" / from The Confessions of St. Augustine --
"The pardoner's tale" / Geoffrey Chaucer --
Ben Franklin on greed / from Poor Richard's Almanack --
III. Envy --
Can and Abel / from the Book of Genesis (NIV) --
Saul and David / retold by Jesse Hurlbut --
"Little Snowdrop" / a classic fairytale, retold by Dinah Craik --
Iago's intentions / by William Shakespeare --
"Headmaster Bard" / by Bjornstjerne Bjornson, translated by Kirsti Saebo Newcombe --
IV. Anger --
The parable of the unmerciful servant / from the Gospel According to Matthew (NIV) --
Michael LeFan on anger / Michael LeFan --
"Tell-tale Heart" / by Edgar Allen Poe --
"The first crèche" / Arthur Gordon --
"The hammer of God" / G.K. Chesterton --
"Tropical paradise lost and found" / retold by Jerry Newcombe --
V. Lust --
The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah / from the Book of Genesis (NIV) --
Joseph and Potiphar's wife / from the Book of Genesis (NIV) --
David and Bathsheba / retold by Jesse Hurlbut --
Amnon and Tamar / from the Book of 2 Samuel (NIV) --
The Roman feast / by Henryk Stenkiewicz, translated by Jeremiah Curtin --
St. Augustine's struggle with lust / from The Confessions of St. Augustine --
"Alypius and the gladiators" / from The Confessions of St. Augustine --
Ben Franklin on lust / from Poor Richard's Almanack --
"Freed from lust" / Steve Gallagher --
VI. Gluttony --
The Bible on gluttony --
Ben Franklin on gluttony / from Poor Richard's Almanack --
The disappearance of Augustus Gloop / Roald Dahl --
Forty-one sausages in one sitting / William Trevor --
"Lenny's las meal" / Robert Newcombe --
"Betty and the pigs" / Lily Guzman --
VII. Sloth --
Ben Franklin on sloth / from Poor Richard's Almanack --
A tale of two diaries --
"How Stonewall Jackson got his name / Robert Folsom --
My intense longing to learn to read / Booker T. Washington --
The actor who gave his all / Lee Buck with Dick Schneider --
The diligence of a polio victim / Michael LeFan. Part III: Faith, hope, and love --
I. Peter walks on the water / from the Gospel According to Matthew (NIV) --
Captured by giant despair / John Bunyan --
"The celestial railroad" / Nathaniel Hawthorne --
"God lives" / Hans Christian Andersen --
The conversion of Adoniram Judson / E. Myers Harrison --
II. Hope --
"The impotent man of Bethesda" / J.W.G. Ward --
The healing of the leper women / Lew Wallace --
"I heard the bells on Christmas day" / Henry Wadsworth Longfellow --
The cave scene / C.S. Lewis --
"Go down death --
a funeral sermon" / James Weldon Johnson --
Though he slay me / B.J. Hoff --
III. Love --
"The prodigal son" / retold by Charles Dickens --
"Terje Vigen" / Henrik Ibsen, translated by Kirsti Saebo Newcombe --
"The mansion" / Henry Van Dyke --
"First hunt" / Arthur Gordon. Part IV: Just for fun --
Alice and the Cheshire-cat / Lewis Carroll --
"Peter Dass outwits the devil " / retold by Kirsti Saebo Newcombe --
"Reinert meets the cannibals" / retold by Kirsti Saebo Newcombe --
"the cop and the anthem / O. Henry --
"The innkeeper's wise daughter" / Peninnah Schram --
Appendix: The most wonderful story.