Add us to your circles!Johann Christoph Arnold
Thousands of years ago, the Hebrew prophet Isaiah dreamed of a peaceable kingdom where the lion would dwell with the lamb. And down through the centuries, no matter how dark the horizon or bloody the battlefield, men and women have found hope in his vision.
Johann Christoph Arnold 
in Seeking Peace
A writer whose down-to-earth perspective has helped his books sell over 350,000 copies in twenty languages, Johann Christoph Arnold offers sound advice on a wide variety of contemporary issues. An outspoken social critic, he has addressed gatherings from Sydney to London and visited hotspots around the globe, including Ireland, Iraq, Chiapas, and Israel/Palestine. His work has also taken him into hospitals, nursing homes, juvenile detention centers, and even to death row.
Born in 1940 to war resisters driven out of Nazi Germany, Johann Christoph Arnold’s parents fled Europe when he was a baby and settled in Paraguay. It was a childhood of dire poverty, but his upbringing gave him a special sensitivity for the downtrodden. At fourteen, he moved to New York, where he has lived ever since. In the 1960s, his interest in the Civil Rights Movement led him to the American South, where he met Martin Luther King Jr. and marched with him. The ensuing friendship was to impact him for life.
A father of eight with more than three dozen grandchildren, Johann Christoph Arnold and his wife, Verena, have always taken a lively interest in children and young people, and in family life. In 1999, in the wake of the Columbine High School massacre, they formed Breaking the Cycle, a program of nonviolent conflict resolution that has since been brought into hundreds of schools in the United States and England. Its essential message reflects Gandhi’s famed advice to “be the change you wish to see in the world.” Johann Christoph Arnold devotes time almost daily to corresponding with his many readers. To share your thoughts, write to him at info@plough.com.
Articles
There is Another Way
Without clear moral standards, our country will head to a complete collapse that will invite chaos and anarchy like never before. As Dostoyevsky says, “Without God, everything is permissible.”
Osama Bin Laden - Can Such A Man Be Forgiven?
A colleague told me that he lost a friend in the 9/11 attack. He said he had strange feelings over the death of Bin Laden and asked, “Is it possible to believe in 'an eye for an eye' and still find a way to forgive?” A good question!
Christian de Chergé: a Story of Forgiveness
To many people, the death of de Chergé and his fellow monks proves the worst stereotypes of Islam. But to him it was the expected cost of being a peacemaker. This article is an excerpt from the new edition of Why Forgive?
Gathering of Forgiveness: A Step to Reconciliation, Kigali, Rwanda
We know that when Jesus was on the cross, he said: “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” May we also have the strength to pray the same prayer...
Will the Virginia Tech Tragedy Change Us?
As we contemplate the shooter, let us love and forgive. The cycle of senseless violence and death can be overcome only by good. The power of love alone robs every violent deed of its power...
Where Do We Go From Here? Responding to School Violence
Forgiveness is for everyone--not only for the Amish. It is the universal answer to breaking the cycle of violence that is destroying this world. Forgiveness is power, not a weakness. It can heal both the forgiver and the forgiven. It will change the world if we allow it. In short, we hold the keys of forgiveness in our hands, and we must choose whether or not to use them every day...
Not A Day to Be Proud Of
All people, including homosexuals, deserve compassion and love, but Jesus Christ was clear that marriage can only be the lifelong union of one man and one woman.
Thoughts on Christian Marriage
Even if our generation has suffered tremendous anguish over our parents’ marriages and our own, we must have hope and faith that wounds can be healed, sins forgiven, and God’s plan for marriage reclaimed—for the sake of ourselves and our children, and for the sake of the whole world. An excerpt on founding a Christian marriage from the book "A Little Child Shall Lead Them."
Christian Marriage: A Panel Discussion
A discussion about Christian marriage in the world today. Questions include:
- Why is it important that a marriage remain a commitment between one man and one woman?
- What does it mean to be faithful in the Church, as a family (husband and wife) and as single people?
- So often we see that children are not wanted in our society. What can we do as a church to make them welcome?
Free Ebooks
Sex, God and Marriage
A refreshing new look at sex, love, and marriage that sees past the usual issues and gets to the root: our relationship with God, and the defining power of that bond over all other relationships.
Escape Routes
In Escape Routes, Arnold explores the roots of loneliness, frustration, alienation, and despair and the keys needed to leave them behind. No self-help mumbo jumbo here - just lots of real-life stories and straightforward advice. Potent medicine for anyone willing to down it.
Why Forgive?
Why Forgive? brings together survivors of crime, betrayal, bigotry, and abuse—and ordinary men and women plagued by everyday strife. Not all are ready to forgive. But all are determined not to let anger, bitterness, and despair control their lives. For this newest edition, author Johann Christoph Arnold has updated several stories, added several dramatic new ones, and explored a new angle not addressed in earlier editions: forgiveness between people locked in ethnic strife.
Seeking Peace: Notes and Conversations along the Way
At the end of a century that has been notable for its lack of peace, it is good to have Johann Christoph Arnold’s fine book, Seeking Peace. He quotes his grandfather’s definition of peace: "the inner peace of the soul with God; the fulfillment of non-violence, through peaceful relationships with others; and the establishment of a just and peaceful social order." As I listen to the news each morning, we seem to be slipping further and further away from this threefold peace. We need this book which guides us to Shalom.— Madeleine L’Engle, in the foreward to Seeking Peace
Drained
Against the dismal backdrop of war, politics and global warming, it may indeed seem perverse to write a book on finding peace. Yet the longing for peace and harmony remains unchanged, and it is as ancient as it is universal. Thousands of years ago, the Jewish visionary Isaiah dreamed of a time and place where the lion would dwell peacefully with the lamb. And down through the centuries, no matter how dark the horizon or bloody the battlefield, men and women have found hope in his dream. These are their stories of finding peace.
Be Not Afraid: Overcoming the Fear of Death
In this hope-filled book, stories of real men and women offer hard-won insights on dealing with uncertainty, loss, grief, and the fear of death. Arnold knows that the biggest challenges in life are the ones that won't fit the script. All the same, he is convinced that there are plenty of common truths worth holding to the light.
Endangered: Your Child in a Hostile World
There are more than enough books on parenting. That was one of the few things I was certain of when I set out to write this book. A father of eight and grandfather of twenty-two, I have had ample opportunities to experience parenting in action, and I sense that what today’s parents lack most is not expertise or ideas, but daring. They simply lack the courage to put their children first...
A Little Child Shall Lead Them: Hopeful Parenting in a Confused World
A pastor offers down-to-earth insights every parent can apply. Topics include fatherhood, motherhood, spoiling your child, discipline, adoption, special needs, building character, academics, sports and play, sex education, role of grandparents, media consumption, and homeschooling.
"Somewhere along the line we have forgotten what childhood is all about. In our preoccupation with adult solutions, we have lost sight of our children — of their vulnerability and innocence, their joyousness, and their love. We have lost touch with the childlike spirit. Despite the words we use to describe the process of education — words like “parenting,” “child rearing,” and other such terms — it seems that in real life we grown-ups often learn as much from our children as they learn from us. In a certain sense, this is how it should be. Anyone who has raised children knows that education is a two-way street..."
Cries from the Heart: Stories of Struggle and Hope
In times of crisis, all of us reach for someone,or something, greater than ourselves. Some call it prayer. Others just do it. People will see themselves in these stories of anguish, triumph, and peace.
"One can pray in many different places and in different ways. Sometimes prayer doesn’t come easily; at other times it flows. Prayer can be silence, singing, reading, even walking, for we can talk to God anywhere."