Against the Wind: Eberhard Arnold and the Bruderhof - Plough

Against the Wind
Eberhard may have become aware of the Blumhardts as early as 1910 through
the writings of Hermann Kutter. 15 In all events Eberhard was at least familiar with
their work and writings before the end of the war. Echoes from the Blumhardts’
kingdom-of-God theology can be clearly distinguished in his arguments at the 1919
student conferences. 16 Perhaps Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt’s example removed
Eberhard’s last hesitation about closer contact with socialism, communism, and the
working-class movement. Toward the end of his days in Berlin, Eberhard tried in
vain to convince the Furche Publishing House to print a book on the Blumhardts.
In 1920, as he and Otto Herpel selected themes to be emphasized in the work
of the Neuwerk Publishing House, they included the witness of the two Blum­
hardts. Eberhard easily recognized that Karl Barth had borrowed certain ideas
from Johann Christoph Blumhardt and had included them in his monumental
commentary on the apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans. This recognition showed
Eberhard his own inner affinity with Barth, which is the reason he persisted so
urgently in his efforts to gain Barth’s cooperation for Das Neue Werk.
At the beginning of 1921 Eberhard successfully solicited the pastor of Öhring,
Eugen Jäckh, as editor for a Blumhardt anthology. Jäckh had been Christoph
Friedrich Blumhardt’s former coworker and the administrator of his literary esate.
After visiting Sannerz in July of 1921 Jäckh described Eberhard as “…free from self,
free from every alien admixture, whether from the political, party-oriented side,
or from the mystical side (Steiner!) or any other.” 17 The anthology appeared at
Christmas of 1921. It was entitled Blumhardt: On the Kingdom of God. 18
The Blumhardts’ thoughts on the kingdom of God surfaced in Eberhard’s
talks and acions. They dovetailed perfectly with his own understanding of the
Sermon on the Mount and the words of Jesus. Eberhard lived in vital expectation
of the things to come and did more than just seak about them; he banked on
the present reality of the kingdom of God. Johannes Harder, a frequent guest at
Sannerz during 1923 and 1924, would later say of Eberhard, “This man literally
lived in the future. His longing for a new earth made him wish that heaven would
no longer be relegated to the hereafter but would become a reality in the present
world. I have hardly ever heard anyone pray the petition ‘Thy kingdom come’ in
the Lord’s Prayer as fervently as this ascetic did.” 19 That consciousness is one of the
secrets underlying the life and faith of Eberhard Arnold.
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