About The Book

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 published 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.