Against the Wind
Eberhard Arnold and the Bruderhof
By
Markus Baum
253 Pages
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This is the story, told in full for the first time, of Eberhard Arnold (1883-1935). A man for today's seekers, he faced life's essential questions head on, and once he had struggled his way through to an answer, he tried to live it. For him, discipleship meant the radical self-sacrifice of living in community like the Early Christians.
Against the Wind (originally pubished in German) explores the forces that shaped Arnold's life and his own influence on other spiritual leaders of his day - Karl Barth, Paul Tillich, and Martin Buber among them. It recounts his renunciation of private property and military service, and explains his abhorrence of conventional piety on the one hand, and his love for the early church fathers on the other.
Most of all, Against the Wind gives flesh, blood, and personality to a man whose unwavering convictions made him at once hated and admired, a man whom some called an enemy of the State and others a modern Saint Francis. Arnold walked resolutely against the prevailing winds, even as Nazism engulfed Germany. The Bruderhof movement, which carries on his commitment to integrate faith and social action, is a witness to his continuing legacy.
The author, Markus Baum, is a popular German journalist and radio commentator.
From the foreword:
"Since the time of Jesus, small groups of earnest Christians have tried to live by the ethics of the Sermon on the Mount. From St. Francis to the Benedictines to the Anabaptists, living as disciples of Jesus in community has been a sought-for ideal. While many Christians have viewed these ethics as for a time yet to come, others have insisted that Jesus meant for his followers to live them in the here and now. Here is the account of one such Christian." - Jim Wallis
This book is also available in
Deutsch